Bigger is not always better, says John West, head of client strategies at Research Affiliates in Newport Beach, California. The 15 year old firm created by Rob Arnott and Chris Brightman works with other investment firms like Invesco for product development and distribution. Research Affiliates was one of the first firms to stake their claim to the smart beta movement, if you will, launching a tradable index in 2005. The PowerShares FTSE RAFI US 1000 (PRF) is based on their RAFI methodology of contrarian investing. The ETF is up more than 100% since inception.