Industry invited to participate in new academic study on construction

Real Estate Weekly, Sept 3, 2003

The commercial construction industry is one of the largest in United States, but it has been ignored by most business schools. A study being conducted at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania might change that.

Two academic researchers, professor Anne Marie Knott and Michael Casaburi, are conducting the first academic study in the United States on what it takes for firms to succeed in the construction business. They are starting the study with New York City.

The study hopes to identify the key factors that distinguish New York construction firms that grow substantially from those that do not.

"In the first stage of the study we interviewed industry experts and the heads of twenty NYC construction firms to see what they thought distinguished the fast growing firms from their slow growth counterparts," she said. "We are now examining if their views capture what is really going on. We have sent letters to all 12,000 firms in the five boroughs asking them to participate in an online survey. We are hoping to hear from all of them."

Firms that do any type of non-single family residential construction work, including as general contractors, subcontractors, prime contractors, or construction management firms, are invited to participate in the survey by logging on at www.fromsite.com/knott/ construction. At the conclusion of the study, participating companies will receive a free copy of the report's key findings.

"As a consultant, I worked with many companies in diverse fields who would have loved to know how they compared to competitors, but they had no easy way of finding that out," said Casaburi. "This report will let New York construction firms see how their business compares to others' in terms of performance, operations, and strategies."

The researchers are requesting that firms fill out the survey by September 10th, 2003. Those with any questions about the study can reach Michael Casaburi at casaburi@wharton.upenn.edu.