Bigger Isn "t Necessarily Better: Lessons from the Harvard Home Builder Study examines the performance and operation of the US home building sector in the period of the great building boom of the 2000s. In contrast to the many books that have focused on the financial side of the housing sector prior to the Great Recession, the book examines the operational side of the industry and what did ”and more importantly did not ”happen during the period of unprecedented growth in the sector. Despite the rapid growth of very large, national home builders during the boom years from 1999 to 2005 and the consolidation of the industry that accompanied it, Bigger Isn "t Necessarily Better argues that major home builders did not improve their operational performance, from their use of information and communication technologies, to their coordination and management of construction at the work site. In fact, the authors find that those builders in markets where prices ”and profits ”were growing fastest during the boom did the least in terms of innovations in their operational practices. The result is that the sector had a long way to fall as the industry collapsed about them.These insights arise from analysis of a detailed survey conducted by the authors of large home builders at the peak of the building boom. The survey provides an unprecedented look into the performance of major homebuilders at the peak of the homebuilding boom.

Frederick Abernathy is Gordon McKay Research Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Abbott and James Lawrence Research Professor of Engineering in Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Kermit Baker is senior research fellow at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies and chief economist for the American Institute of Architects. Kent Colton is president of The Colton Housing Group and is a senior fellow at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. David Weil is professor of economics and Everett W. Lord Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Boston University School of Management "