Copyright 2012 Douglas Eugene Sturgeon
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Copyright 2012 Douglas Eugene Sturgeon ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF ARCHITECTURAL FIRMS: AN APPLICATION OF PRODUCTION THEORY BY DOUGLAS EUGENE STURGEON DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture with a minor in College Teaching in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2012 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Richard K. Strand, Chair Associate Professor Michael J. Andrejasich Associate Professor Michael T. McCulley Associate Professor Nicholas C. Petruzzi ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the application of production theory to architectural firms. The basis of production theory, upon which all else depends and emerges from, is the production function. The production function is simultaneously a mathematical representation of the arrangements of inputs necessary to the production of goods and services of a firm, and a conceptualization of the underlying production process. The key benefit of understanding and utilizing production functions stems from its centrality in cost minimizing and output maximizing techniques. Through the adoption of these optimization techniques architectural firms are afforded the means of improving their economic performance. In this dissertation the focus is upon the identification of the n-input single-output production function best suitable for empirical study of architecture firms and subsequent use in minimizing costs and maximizing output as pathways to improving economic performance. The maturation of production theory is largely a 20th century phenomena although its antecedents date from the 18th century. The historical development of production theory begins with Jacques Turgot and is advanced by such luminaries as Johann Heinreich von Thunen, Antoine Augustin Cournot, Herman Heinrich Gossen, William Stanley Jevons, John Bates Clark, and John Gustav Knut Wicksell among many others. The early historical period is brought to an end and the contemporary period born with the publication of A Theory of Production by Charles Cobb and Paul Douglas in which the production function bearing their names first appears. This dissertation provides a brief history of the early period and a more detailed account of the development of production functions, of the n-input single-output variety, as it played out in the balance of the 20th century. In the process, over 50 production functions and their variations are identified and characterized. A winnowing process was developed and applied that reduced this ii list to five candidate production functions. An abbreviated case study performed a statistical examination each of these forms concluding that the Cobb-Douglas and Leontief production functions presented the most viable choices for empirical study of architectural firms. iii To The Father, Son and Holy Spirit Without you I am nothing, But with you all things are possible. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe a great debt of gratitude to the many people who played such an instrumental role in the success of this project. I thank those family and friends who were the greatest source of encouragement in the long days and dark nights of this journey. To my sister Deb, my friends Randy, Ruth, Mia, Michael, Birge, and Regenia, many thanks. To my pastor Brett, and fellow congregants Marc, Ashlee, Joel, Elizabeth, Michael, and Tammie, you are a blessing. I owe a special thanks to the faculty and students of the School of Architecture too numerous to mention; I single out my two mentors Professors Art Kaha and Michael Andrejasich, thank you for taking an interest in me and guiding my footsteps. I am deeply indebted to a group of unsung heroes of any research endeavor, the men and women who make the library system of the University of Illinois one of the premier libraries in the world, my deepest appreciation for the support you have provided. I wish to acknowledge the vast number of economists upon whose work this dissertation is built; without their theories this project would not be possible. Finally I wish to thank Dr. Richard Strand for being my advisor and dealing with my cantankerous nature, and the other members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Nicholas Petruzzi, and Professors Michael Andrejasich and Michael McCulley, thank you very much. Without all their help this project would never have been completed. For any and all errors in this dissertation I remain solely responsible. v Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................1 Background .............................................................................................................................1 Objective .................................................................................................................................6 Chapter Outline .......................................................................................................................7 Relevancy Lost; Opportunities Missed ....................................................................................8 Financial Health of the Architectural Industry ....................................................................... 15 Cost Structure........................................................................................................................ 19 Alternative Methodologies for Computing Cost Structure ..................................................... 25 A General Note on Methodology ........................................................................................... 30 Plan of This Dissertation ....................................................................................................... 33 CHAPTER 2: HISTORY OF PRODUCTION THEORY .......................................................... 34 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 34 Background ........................................................................................................................... 34 Nascent Neoclassical Economics ........................................................................................... 35 Forerunners of the Marginalist School ................................................................................... 37 Marginalist School ................................................................................................................ 41 Neoclassical School............................................................................................................... 44 Production Economics ........................................................................................................... 47 Overview of Applied Production Economics ......................................................................... 48 vi CHAPTER 3: PRODUCTION THEORY .................................................................................. 50 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 50 Theory of the Firm ................................................................................................................ 53 Production Process ................................................................................................................ 55 Production Theory ................................................................................................................. 61 Optimization ......................................................................................................................... 86 CHAPTER 4: PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS ............................................................................ 97 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 97 General Characteristics of Production Functions.................................................................. 100 Productions Functions ......................................................................................................... 104 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 137 CHAPTER 5: CHOICE OF FUNCTIONAL FORM ............................................................... 138 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 138 Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 138 Winnowing the List ............................................................................................................. 144 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 148 CHAPTER 6: CASE STUDY ................................................................................................. 149 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 149 Data .................................................................................................................................... 150 Analysis Methodology ........................................................................................................ 151 vii Analysis .............................................................................................................................