A paper developing theory on the growth/survival trade-offs faced by licensed homebuilders has won the Best Paper Award at the recent ANZAM (Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management) Conference in Auckland.
The refereed paper “Small may be good, but temporary exit may be even better: growth/survival trade-offs in the age mortality distribution for quasifirms” was co-authored by Peter Lynch, Professor Geoffrey Kiel, and Dr Andrew Wollin — all from the UQ School of Management. The theory provides the foundations of Mr Lynch’s dissertation.
This is the second year in succession that a paper from UQ’s School of Management has won the coveted ANZAM Best Paper Award. In December 2000, Professor Kiel and Gavin Nicholson (from UQ) in collaboration with Malcolm Alexander from Griffith University won with a refereed paper developing theory on the role and performances of the modern board of directors entitled “The board of directors — firm performance nexus revisited.”
Professor Kiel, a co-author of both papers said: “The two papers receiving the awards were done by PhD students in collaboration with supervising academic staff. They are representative of the internationally high level of research being undertaken by PhD students and staff within the School.”
Mr Lynch said both papers explored the foundations of issues with a high profile in contemporary business.
“Business failure among licensed homebuilders has been an enduring issue since the Home Building Review Report of 1990. A Building Services Authority discussion paper addressing the problems of opportunistic behaviour between contractors and subcontractors is currently in circulation,” he said.
“Recent collapses of major Australian organisations has brought the performances of boards of directors into sharp relief and increasingly under the microscope. A strong theoretical model using intellectual capital and board processes as the links between board composition and performance (subject to empirical testing) potentially informs better selection of boards of directors with an associated expected higher level of performance and accountability.”
Both Mr Lynch and Mr Nicholson are “later entry” PhD students, bringing a strong degree of life experience to their research. Mr Lynch is a UQ lecturer in the final stages of his PhD, the first-ever School of Management doctoral study to attract an Australian Research Council (ARC) (Industry) Award. The co-sponsor was Boral Building Products and the research drew on the Queensland Building Services Authority historical database and was supported by the Housing Industry Association (HIA). Mr Nicholson is Managing Director of a business consultancy specialising in strategic business improvement and in corporate governance.
The Best Paper award consists of $1000 plus a plaque for each co-author. Mr Lynch received the 2001 award on behalf of his co-authors in Auckland in December 2001.
For more information, contact Peter Lynch (telephone 07 3365 6567, email: p.lynch@gsm.uq.edu.au) or Shirley Glaister at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2339, email: s.glaister@mailbox.uq.edu.au).
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