The American Real Estate Society

Citation

DeLisle, J.R. (2001), "The American Real Estate Society", Property Management, Vol. 19 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.2001.11319eac.005

The American Real Estate Society

ARES is an open, grass-roots organization which continues to turn out quality journals. ARES members receive four major journals, the Journal of Real Estate Research, Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management, Journal of Real Estate Practice and Education, and the Journal of Real Estate Literature. In addition, ARES continues to work with industry groups to provide you with proprietary reports, as well as the special issues and monographs that it puts out itself. To foster discussion and feedback, there is also a Discussion Forum on the Web site at Georgia State (www.gsu.edu/rerc). The introduction of free electronic access to the Emerald real estate journals will further enhance the benefits of ARES membership (see Graeme Newell's report, pp. iv-v).

The 17th Annual Meeting of ARES was held April 18-21, 2001 at the lakeside Coeur d'Alene Resort in Northern Idaho. (Further information on the conference or ARES membership is available on the ARES Web site http://www.aresnet.org/)

It's certainly been an extremely busy, interesting and challenging year in terms of the real estate industry, ARES, and its members. Interestingly, this activity level has dramatically increased at a time when the commercial real estate market in the USA has continued to plateau in terms of market balance. This disconnection between the actual market and the intellectual analysis of that market can be attributed to the fact that the drivers of value in real estate have been put "in play" as we undergo a fundamental structural shift. Two phenomena characterize this structural shift: the explosive growth of e-commerce and e-business; and, the continued proliferation of technological innovation that permeates governmental, business and personal affairs.

In this time of uncertainty, ARES remains committed to creating an open forum wherein we can explore and discuss the impacts of the technological revolution. At the same time, it is important that we continue to address the other major trends that are still being played out in the market without losing sight of the importance of real estate fundamentals and capital markets. Examples of these trends that we have discussed at length in our journals and at our meetings include consolidation, globalization, securitization and privatization. I believe that we will continue to address these "content-related" real estate industry issues as we struggle to advance the body of knowledge. However, I also believe that we will begin to spend more time dealing with the "delivery-related" issues that are surfacing. That is, the explosion of distance learning and the emergence of other technology-enhanced training and alternative delivery mechanisms creating both a threat and an opportunity that the academic community must address. This is particularly true in the applied sciences like real estate, where the private sector is continuously looking for an opportunity to increase its penetration of the educational market. Exacerbating this competitive situation is the fact that many industry segments continue to eschew traditional university-based education, and have internalized education in hopes of delivering quicker, better, cheaper knowledge transfer to their members. I encourage us to take on this trend more directly than ever, capitalizing on our blended academic and industry membership base.

James R. DeLisleE-mail: jdelisle@asu.eduDirector of the Real Estate Research Center, Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University 2001 President ARES