ODU's Gaur Wins Prestigious Richard N. Farmer Dissertation Award

Old Dominion University professor Ajai Gaur recently captured the Academy of International Business' (AIB) 2008 Richard N. Farmer Dissertation Award for his thesis entitled "Essays on Strategic Adaptation and Firm Performance during Institutional Transition."

Named after a former AIB president, the annual Farmer Award is given to the year's top dissertation on international business. The competition is open to business scholars from around the world, and in 2008 drew submissions from such institutions as MIT, National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Winners receive a plaque and a $1,000 cash prize. Gaur's dissertation was chosen over 41 other applicants, which included finalists from George Washington University, Minnesota University and Northeastern University.

Gaur's thesis examined the choices firms make during periods of transition, and how those choices affect their performance. Looking closely at two options, collaborating with foreign firms and exiting a market, he wrote that both choices could positively affect performance, depending on the company's structure. He based his arguments on performance data from a sample of 9,926 Indian firms over a 17-year period, running from1989 to 2005.

William Q. Judge, ODU's E.V. Williams chair of strategic leadership noted that Gaur's accomplishment had elicited some admiring attention from his AIB colleagues. "I had one colleague come up to me after Ajai's achievement was announced and ask, 'Is there something special in the water down there at ODU? Because I am seeing your school's name and its faculty everywhere these days,'" he said.

Gaur accepted this year's award at the AIB's 50th anniversary ceremony in Milan, Italy. Established in 1959, the AIB is an international association of business professionals and scholars that works to advance education and professional standards within the field. The organization boasts more than 3,000 members from 72 countries. It has 14 chapters based all around the world, and publishes the Journal of International Business Studies, the premier scholarly journal in the field.

Gaur also won the AIB's Best Dissertation Proposal award in 2005 for the same dissertation. He spent four years finishing the dissertation, beginning in 2003 when he was a Ph.D. student at National US. During his doctoral studies, he was the recipient of four consecutive President's Graduate Awards from 2003 to 2007. He feels, however, that winning the Farmer Award is perhaps the most significant recognition he has received.

"This award is particularly important as it is given by the top body in the International Business field," Gaur said. "It brings a quick recognition among the top scholars in the field and helps build your reputation as an emerging scholar."