Fund Executives Research Articles

Under pressure: exploring pressures for corporate social responsibility in mutual funds

PurposeThis empirical study seeks to understand how mutual fund firms interpret conflicting pressures to conform or differentiate in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Research suggests that organizations engage in practices that conform to industry standards in order to be seen as legitimate members of their industry. Other studies suggest that organizations differentiate themselves in order to compete and outperform their rivals. Pressures for organizational conformity and differentiation are explored in two types of organizations in the mutual fund industry: socially responsible investment (SRI) and non-SRI firms.Design/methodology/approachThe research is based on qualitative in-depth interviews with twenty-six mutual funds.FindingsThe analysis revealed that pressures for conformity and differentiation were salient among mutual fund executives but emphasized differently for the two types of mutual funds.Originality/valueThe study concluded by suggesting SRI firms use both strategies of conformity and differentiation to amplify the message that they adhere to the values of CSR.

The Impact of Austerity Measures on Social Security Beneficiaries: The Case of Greece

This article discusses how welfare cuts in Greece affected social insurance beneficiaries’ access to better living conditions by raising the question why welfare benefits are not excluded from cuts even though they obviously minimize poverty rates in people of the third and fourth age. It focuses on the Memoranda reform measures imposed after 2010 acknowledging on the one hand that these measures are for the most part unjustifiable and in parallel locating which changes have been accepted and welcomed by the social insurance fund executives.

Design of MySuper default funds: influences and outcomes

AbstractWe interview Australian fund executives about how their organisations responded to MySuper, a regulatory framework for default retirement savings funds that providers were required to have in place by the beginning of 2014. We provide an account of the influences on MySuper product design. Our analysis generates insight into how fund providers balanced their perceptions of the needs of default fund members against business considerations. Differences in member bases and organisational circumstances across funds are found to lead to considerable variation in default fund design.

The Australian superannuation system post Stronger Super: views from fund executives

Over the past five years, the Australian superannuation system has been subject to a programme of policy and regulatory change of considerable scope and ambition: the Stronger Super initiatives. This article presents the findings of qualitative research undertaken with the fund executives on whom much of the burden of responding to the changes has fallen. It finds misgivings around the new reporting regime, the system's overwhelming focus on the accumulation phase and the provision of choice to members, as well as widespread fatigue from continued regulatory change. It also finds a predictable diversity of views on funds’ alignment with members’ needs and the desirability of scale.

MySuper: A Stage in an Evolutionary Process

We interview Australian fund executives about how their organisations responded to MySuper, a regulatory framework for default retirement savings funds that providers were required to have in place by the beginning of 2014. In addition to providing an account of the influences on product design and how MySuper was perceived by the industry, we discuss how the superannuation industry is shifting its focus towards meeting the retirement needs of members who are assumed to be largely disengaged. We argue that MySuper has promoted change and innovation through separating out default members, thus providing a mechanism through which the needs of this particular group are explicitly addressed. Asset accumulation and relative returns appear to be relegated to secondary considerations, at least for fund executives.

The Superannuation System and its Regulation: Views from Fund Executives

This paper summarizes views on the superannuation system and its regulation collected through interviews of fund executives. While the majority of interviewees saw the superannuation system as working relatively well, some areas of concern were detected. Issues raised relate to: certain aspects of the system that hinder alignment with member needs; calls for increased attention on the retirement phase by both the industry and within the regulations; the burden of regulatory change; shortcomings in the reporting and disclosure regime; and the dangers of primarily focusing on fees and costs rather than on net returns. Mixed feedback was received on the new prudential standards, and the question of fund scale. The regulator was perceived favorably by the majority of those who commented.

Murder on the Orient Express: The Mystery of Underperformance

Evidence increasingly shows that a “crime” of extensive underperformance has been committed in mutual funds, pension funds, and endowments. In a pattern reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s famous novel Murder on the Orient Express, an investigation leads to a surprising, if inevitable, conclusion: The usual suspects—investment managers, fund executives, investment consultants, and investment committees—are all guilty.

Does investing in technology-based firms involve higher risk? An exploratory study of the performance of technology and non-technology investments by business angels*

There is a widespread concern in both the UK and in the European Union that technology-based firms encounter difficulties in raising venture capital at their start-up and early growth stages. This, in turn, reflects the perception amongst investors that investments in technology-based firms involve greater uncertainty (in terms of market and technology) and hence higher risks. This paper explores this contention by means of an examination of the performance of investments made by business angels (informal investors) in technology and non-technology firms. Based on the analysis of deal-specific information, the authors demonstrate that the overall returns profiles of the two types of investments are not significantly different. This may be because business angels are better able than venture capital fund executives to manage the risks involved in investing in technology-based firms on account of their industrial and entrepreneurial backgrounds. Alternatively, it may reflect the fact that the risks involved in investing in technology-based firms have been overstated.

Institutional Investors and Corporate Governance: Best Practices for Increasing Corporate ValueInstitutional Investors and Corporate Governance: Best Practices for Increasing Corporate Value, by BrancatoCarolyn K. Chicago: Irwin. 1997.

The book ‘Institutional Investors and Corporate Governance: Best Practices for Increasing Corporate Value,’ by Carolyn K. Brancato, centers around the idea that current acrimonious relationships between institutional investors and corporate executives jeopardize the interests of both parties and are detrimental to corporate value. Brancato draws on her rich research experience and personal interactions with corporate and public pension fund executives during her service in various government agencies and argues that communication between longterm investors and corporate executives is fundamental to facilitating corporate investments that sustain corporate value.

United Fund Executive reactions to the impact of Federal programs in their community domains

This is an exploratory study of the reactions of an influential key health and welfare administrator, the United Fund Executive, to Federal health and welfare program impact affecting his job in the decade 1957 to 1967. It was found that rather than being threatened, a majority of Fund Executives participated in the three Federal programs surveyed (Urban Renewal, Anti-poverty, and Comprehensive Mental Health Planning Programs). Involvement in these programs appeared to influence positively attitudes toward them. It was also found that there was considerable lack of knowledge about Federal programs but not unwillingness to learn. A large majority of respondents favored Federal programs, but there were strong variations according to respondents' age, experience, and educational level, and to their city's size and regional location.

Fund executives and social change: a study

Fund executives and social change: a study

Are Stock Rights Obsolete?

G ENERAL MOTORS, SOCONY MOBIL, National Gypsum, IBM, Babcock & Wilcox, Anaconda and Armco have recently issued stock rights to raise additional equity capital. Standard Oil of New Jersey and Royal Dutch Shell announced they will use this method in the near future. Adoption of any device by so many notable corporations might lead to the conclusion that this must be the best method. Surprisingly, there is at least some evidence that it is not. Advocates of and apologists for stock rights indicate (1) that in all fairness each stockholder must be given the privilege of maintaining his proportionate interest in the business, (2) that many company charters require equity offerings be made first to the stockholders, (3) that present stockholders constitute the most ready reservoir of new share capital available to the company and that large equity issues of $50 million and more are probably saleable only through the rights device, (4) that if rights were not offered to shareholders many of them would not be aware of the stock offering, (5) that most shareholders like rights and that it is a matter of good stockholder relations to give them what they want. This case on face may appear to some established, and perhaps it is, Yet, according to Plato, every coin front has its back; each good its bad. So investigation of both sides of the stock-rights problem should be made before reaching a conclusion. The author has made a limited telephone survey of underwriters, investment counsel, investment trusts, bank trust officers, stock exchange firm partners, insurance and pension fund executives. An overwhelming number of these persons expressed in no uncertain terms their opposition to stock rights. Perhaps a wider survey would have shown different results, but the fact that any survey of financial professionals could reveal almost a unanimity of disillusionment about stock rights seems significant.