Research

Accounting, Finance Faculty Members Recognized for Outstanding Research

Posted on by Claire Hall

2015-03-20_facultyThe School of Business has awarded its 2015 Best Paper Award to professors David Weber, from accounting, and Jose Martinez, of finance, for their exceptional research articles that will appear in esteemed academic journals.

Weber’s research paper is titled, “Does SOX 404 Have Teeth? Consequences of the Failure to Report Existing Internal Control Weaknesses.”

“Picking Winners? Investment Consultants’ Recommendations of Fund Managers,” is the title of Martinez’s work. His paper also recently received a prize from the University of Cambridge and the Commonfund Institute.

“Both papers are to appear in very prestigious journals in their respective fields, The Accounting Review and Journal of Finance,” said Sulin Ba, associate dean of academic and research support. “The selection committee was particularly impressed by the public policy implications that came out of both research projects. These implications will have an impact on our society in the years to come.”

The competition was intense this year with 10 nominations, all papers accepted in top academic journals, Ba said.

“Dr. Weber’s paper, co-authored with Ph.D. student Biyu Wu, addresses the requirement that corporations and their auditors publicly disclose internal control weaknesses, which is one of the most contentious and costly provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act,” said Mohamed Hussein, accounting department head. “The study is important because it shows that the enforcement mechanisms surrounding internal control reporting are often ineffective and in some cases may even provide disincentives for compliance.”

“This paper is one of many research projects conducted by the UConn accounting faculty that addressed critical accounting and tax issues,” said Hussein, noting that UConn accounting faculty research has been cited in Congressional hearings and in the British Parliament.

Chinmoy Ghosh, department head in finance, said he is pleased with his colleague’s success.

“Within a very short period of time since arriving at UConn in August 2014, Jose has made a significant contribution in almost every aspect of the job. Acceptance of his paper by the Journal of Finance, the top journal in the discipline, brings tremendous visibility and prestige to the department and the school,” he said. “Very recently, his research has been recognized by a leading academic group in Europe. His style of teaching and knowledge drew great praise from the Risk Management students at both our Hartford and Stamford campuses.

“Jose has also shown great interest and objectivity in various academic issues currently under review by the department faculty. We are very pleased to have him as a colleague and look forward to many more productive years from him at the School of Business.”

The Best Paper Award is funded by the generous support of the Arnold M. Robin & Rochelle M. Robin Excellence Fund.

Related articles:

Professor Jose Martinez Earns Triple Recognition for Work on Dubious Investment Management

Professor David Weber Finds Lack of Enforcement Surrounds Key Provision of Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Picking Winners?

Posted on by Claire Hall

Professor Jose Martinez Earns Triple Recognition For Work on Dubious Investment Management

A four-year research project by UConn finance professor Jose Martinez found no evidence that recommendations by highly paid investment consultants to institutional investors subsequently outperformed the market.

Professor Jose Martinez

In his paper, “Picking Winners? Investment Consultants’ Recommendations of Fund Managers,” Martinez presents survey data from investment consultants with a combined share of 90 percent of the consulting market, and focuses on the recommendations consultants made for actively managed U.S. equity funds.Continue Reading

UConn Receives $435,000 Grant to Create Particle Board with Recycled Carpeting; School of Business’ MBA Students Will Perform Marketing Viability Study

Posted on by Claire Hall

2015-03-02_care-slaThe University of Connecticut’s School of Engineering and the Institute of Materials Science have received a $435,000 research grant to develop products made from particle board containing recycled carpeting. Approximately $100,000 will be apportioned to the UConn School of Business to perform an economic and market analysis for these new products, which are targeted to the construction industry.

Richard Parness, Ph.D., a UConn faculty member in the Polymer Program of Institute of Material Sciences will develop and test the products, in conjunction with colleagues Ioulia Valla and George Bollas. Parness has tremendous expertise in this field, having patented other particle board while at UConn.

The grant is sponsored by the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), whose purpose is to develop market-based solutions for recycling and reusing post-consumer carpet. In 2013, some 3.7 billion pounds of carpeting was sent to landfills. Since then, CARE members have been successful in diverting more than 3.25 billion pounds of carpeting from landfills in the U.S., according to Robert Peoples, Ph.D., and CARE executive director. Because of its complex fabric and chemical makeup, recycling of carpet is particularly complex.

The UConn School of Business marketing analysis will be carried out by graduate students in the Stamford Learning Accelerator (SLA), said Brian Brady, SLA Director and co-investigator of the grant. “MBA students will be assessing the market opportunity for these new products, and will help identify optimal target customers and develop a pricing- and distribution- strategy. We are excited about the potential of patented particle board products incorporating post-consumer carpeting as one solution in aiding the sustainability efforts of CARE.”

The research will begin this summer and will take approximately a year.

“The fact that UConn was selected for this project is exciting,” Brady said. “This grant is substantial, and represents a cross-disciplinary effort between the School of Business and the School of Engineering and is a further example of the ongoing collaboration between both. We are excited to work with CARE, Dr. Parnas and his colleagues on this project in hopes that UConn’s efforts can help play a role in improving our environment and local communities.”

Plan Sponsors Act Defensively in Making Investment Decisions

Posted on by Melissa Ferrigno

Plan Advisor – Newly published research finds that plan sponsors’ expectations of performance are driven by past performance, investment consultants’ recommendations, and soft factors which they identify in their asset managers, such as having a consistent investment philosophy, clear decisionmaking processes and capable investment professionals.

Researchers Howard Jones, from the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and Jose Martinez, from the University of Connecticut School of Business, say the partial dependency of expected performance on past performance and soft factors is not, in itself, irrational. Investors could use such variables as signals of future performance. However, what they did find irrational is that past performance is relied upon when it is uninformative about future performance, and the same was true for soft factors.

Moving Beyond Crisis Mode: Successful Corporations Merge Short-Term Goals, Long-Term Strategy, Expert Says

Posted on by Claire Hall

In a corporate world that is obsessed with immediate results, there is still plenty of need for long-term, strategic thinking, said David Souder, a management professor and the academic director of UConn’s Executive MBA program.

In a lively presentation, which touched on everything from light bulbs to major league baseball, Souder told 40 business executives that a progressive company must always strive for a balance between short-term goals and long-term strategy. Souder outlined four steps to bringing long-term goals into focus.Continue Reading

Marketing Scholars Lurie and Pancras Invited to Mobile Marketing Thought Leadership Conference

Posted on by Nancy White
Nick Lurie - Mobile Conf
Professor Nicholas Lurie engaged in workshop discussions.

Nicholas Lurie and Joseph Pancras, associate professors of marketing, were invited to the Thought Leadership Conference on “Mobile Marketing and its Implications for Retailing” held at the Mays Business School, Texas A&M University on Jan 21-23. Leading researchers in mobile marketing and industry practitioners participated in work group discussions on five different areas of mobile marketing.Continue Reading