IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/ijfiec/v28y2023i3p2874-2884.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Explaining mutual fund behavior through the structure‐conduct‐performance lens

Author

Listed:
  • Les Coleman

Abstract

This paper examines mutual funds. These are economically important as the largest institutional investors, and form an important principal‐agent relationship as custodians of retirement savings. Despite a huge literature, there is no agreed explanation of mutual fund behavior. This analysis links mutual fund research across disciplines under the structure‐conduct‐performance paradigm (SCP), which is widely used in strategy research to explain firm actions and results. SCP explains mutual fund actions after placing the fund manager at the center of fund operations, where their conduct is driven by structure of markets and the funds management industry. Structural influences on fund managers include unpredictability of markets, the oligopolistic nature of the mutual fund industry, and disengagement of clients. As a result, funds derive income as commission on assets under management, which is sub‐optimal for clients. In addition, fund managers' conduct is driven by their homogeneity and socialization with competitors and investee firms. While the most obvious role of fund managers is construction of investment portfolios, outperformance is not their sole, or perhaps even principal, objective. The SCP lens offers insights into mutual funds of value to fund managers, investors, regulators and executives of investee firms. This paper impounds evidence from real‐world data in theory to offer an actor‐centric perspective of investment which is an archetypal practitioner driven discipline.

Suggested Citation

  • Les Coleman, 2023. "Explaining mutual fund behavior through the structure‐conduct‐performance lens," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 2874-2884, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:ijfiec:v:28:y:2023:i:3:p:2874-2884
    DOI: 10.1002/ijfe.2568
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.2568
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/ijfe.2568?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ran Barniv & Ole†Kristian Hope & Mark Myring & Wayne B. Thomas, 2010. "International Evidence on Analyst Stock Recommendations, Valuations, and Returns," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1131-1167, December.
    2. Russ Wermers, 2000. "Mutual Fund Performance: An Empirical Decomposition into Stock-Picking Talent, Style, Transactions Costs, and Expenses," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1655-1703, August.
    3. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    4. Ray C. Fair, 2002. "Events That Shook the Market," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(4), pages 713-732, October.
    5. Meulbroek, Lisa K, 1992. "An Empirical Analysis of Illegal Insider Trading," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(5), pages 1661-1699, December.
    6. Beckmann, Daniela & Menkhoff, Lukas & Suto, Megumi, 2008. "Does culture influence asset managers' views and behavior?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 67(3-4), pages 624-643, September.
    7. Richard W. Sias, 2004. "Institutional Herding," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 17(1), pages 165-206.
    8. Delgado, Fransico A. & Cueto, Diego C., 2012. "The Shamans of Wall Street: A Real Conundrum in Finance. Why Systematically Poor Performing Asset Managers Survive?," Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science, Universidad ESAN, vol. 17(32), pages 33-40.
    9. Ferreira, Miguel A. & Santa-Clara, Pedro, 2011. "Forecasting stock market returns: The sum of the parts is more than the whole," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 514-537, June.
    10. Jonathan B. Berk & Richard C. Green, 2004. "Mutual Fund Flows and Performance in Rational Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1269-1295, December.
    11. Heber Farnsworth & Jonathan Taylor, 2006. "Evidence On The Compensation Of Portfolio Managers," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 29(3), pages 305-324, September.
    12. Les Coleman, 2011. "An Exploratory Analysis of Factors Influencing Initial Market Response and Media Reports following Shock Corporate Events," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 46(2), pages 313-336, May.
    13. Miguel A. Ferreira & Aneel Keswani & António F. Miguel & Sofia B. Ramos, 2013. "The Determinants of Mutual Fund Performance: A Cross-Country Study," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 17(2), pages 483-525.
    14. Julie Agnew & Pierluigi Balduzzi & Annika Sundén, 2003. "Portfolio Choice and Trading in a Large 401(k) Plan," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 193-215, March.
    15. Richard Barker, 1998. "The market for information—evidence from finance directors, analysts and fund managers," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 3-20.
    16. repec:eme:mfppss:03074350210767627 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Cuthbertson, Keith & Nitzsche, Dirk & O'Sullivan, Niall, 2016. "A review of behavioural and management effects in mutual fund performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 162-176.
    18. Russ Wermers, 2000. "Mutual Fund Performance: An Empirical Decomposition into Stock‐Picking Talent, Style, Transactions Costs, and Expenses," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1655-1695, August.
    19. Ajay Khorana & Henri Servaes & Peter Tufano, 2009. "Mutual Fund Fees Around the World," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(3), pages 1279-1310.
    20. Hannan, Timothy H, 1991. "Foundations of the Structure-Conduct-Performance Paradigm in Banking," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 23(1), pages 68-84, February.
    21. Malkiel, Burton G, 1995. "Returns from Investing in Equity Mutual Funds 1971 to 1991," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(2), pages 549-572, June.
    22. Almazan, Andres & Brown, Keith C. & Carlson, Murray & Chapman, David A., 2004. "Why constrain your mutual fund manager?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 289-321, August.
    23. Guercio, Diane Del & Tkac, Paula A., 2002. "The Determinants of the Flow of Funds of Managed Portfolios: Mutual Funds vs. Pension Funds," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 37(4), pages 523-557, December.
    24. Shive, Sophie, 2010. "An Epidemic Model of Investor Behavior," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(1), pages 169-198, February.
    25. Menkhoff, Lukas, 2010. "The use of technical analysis by fund managers: International evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 2573-2586, November.
    26. Les Coleman, 2014. "Involuntary corporate finance: the dominance of history in decisions," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(33), pages 4104-4115, November.
    27. Keswani, Aneel & Medhat, Mamdouh & Miguel, Antonio F. & Ramos, Sofia B., 2020. "Uncertainty avoidance and mutual funds," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    28. Treynor, Jack L & Black, Fischer, 1973. "How to Use Security Analysis to Improve Portfolio Selection," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(1), pages 66-86, January.
    29. Christoffersen, Susan E.K. & Sarkissian, Sergei, 2009. "City size and fund performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 252-275, May.
    30. Francis, J & Olsson, P & Oswald, DR, 2000. "Comparing the accuracy and explainability of dividend, free cash flow, and abnormal earnings equity value estimates," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 45-70.
    31. F. Douglas Foster & Geoffrey J. Warren, 2016. "Interviews with Institutional Investors: The How and Why of Active Investing," Journal of Behavioral Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 60-84, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert F. Stambaugh, 2014. "Investment Noise and Trends," NBER Working Papers 20072, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Clemens Sialm & Laura T. Starks & Hanjiang Zhang, 2015. "Defined Contribution Pension Plans: Sticky or Discerning Money?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(2), pages 805-838, April.
    3. Qiyuan Peng & Sheri Tice & Ling Zhou, 2023. "Mutual funds and stock fundamentals," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1329-1361, May.
    4. Ľuboš Pástor & Robert F. Stambaugh, 2012. "On the Size of the Active Management Industry," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 120(4), pages 740-781.
    5. Coleman, Les, 2014. "Why finance theory fails to survive contact with the real world: A fund manager perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 226-236.
    6. Jiong Gong & Ping Jiang & Shu Tian, 2016. "Contractual mutual fund governance: the case of China," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 543-567, April.
    7. Sorhage, Christoph, 2015. "Outsourcing of mutual funds' non-core competencies," CFR Working Papers 14-04 [rev.2], University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    8. Marcin Kacperczyk & Clemens Sialm & Lu Zheng, 2005. "On the Industry Concentration of Actively Managed Equity Mutual Funds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(4), pages 1983-2011, August.
    9. Goncalves-Pinto, Luis & Sotes-Paladino, Juan & Xu, Jing, 2018. "The invisible hand of internal markets in mutual fund families," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 105-124.
    10. Gutierrez, Roberto Jr. & Prinsky, Christo A., 2007. "Momentum, reversal, and the trading behaviors of institutions," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 48-75, February.
    11. Chen, Xuanjuan & Yao, Tong & Yu, Tong, 2007. "Prudent man or agency problem? On the performance of insurance mutual funds," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 175-203, April.
    12. Sanjeev Bhojraj & Young Jun Cho & Nir Yehuda, 2012. "Mutual Fund Family Size and Mutual Fund Performance: The Role of Regulatory Changes," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 647-684, June.
    13. Habib, Michel A. & Johnsen, D. Bruce, 2016. "The quality-assuring role of mutual fund advisory fees," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-19.
    14. Victoria Sevcenko & Sendil Ethiraj, 2018. "How Do Firms Appropriate Value from Employees with Transferable Skills? A Study of the Appropriation Puzzle in Actively Managed Mutual Funds," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(5), pages 775-795, October.
    15. Mikhail Simutin, 2014. "Cash Holdings and Mutual Fund Performance," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 18(4), pages 1425-1464.
    16. Rakowski, David & Yamani, Ehab, 2021. "Endogeneity in the mutual fund flow–performance relationship: An instrumental variables solution," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 247-271.
    17. Chen, Qi & Goldstein, Itay & Jiang, Wei, 2010. "Payoff complementarities and financial fragility: Evidence from mutual fund outflows," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 239-262, August.
    18. Grønborg, Niels S. & Lunde, Asger & Timmermann, Allan & Wermers, Russ, 2021. "Picking funds with confidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 1-28.
    19. Yang Song, 2020. "The Mismatch Between Mutual Fund Scale and Skill," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(5), pages 2555-2589, October.
    20. Zhang, Jinhua & Wang, Guipu & Yan, Cheng, 2020. "Can foreign equity funds outperform their benchmarks? New evidence from fund-holding data for China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 11-20.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:ijfiec:v:28:y:2023:i:3:p:2874-2884. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/1076-9307/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.