Search results
1 – 10 of 138Brian D. Bergquist, Dawn L. Keig and Timothy J. Wilkinson
Schools must not necessarily have a large amount of money or advanced finance curriculum for students to get the benefits of participating in a student-managed investment program…
Abstract
Purpose
Schools must not necessarily have a large amount of money or advanced finance curriculum for students to get the benefits of participating in a student-managed investment program. Any college or university with motivated students and faculty can have a successful program if they are willing to put forth the effort. The paper aims to discuss this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a case study approach to examine specific characteristics of a successful student investment group implementation at a small liberal arts university in the Northwest USA.
Findings
Three student investment group implementation considerations are highlighted in this analysis: establishing an inclusive, interdisciplinary focus in a long-term club vs course format; utilizing all student-led training, governance and investment methodologies; and designing group processes with an emphasis on critical thinking and community outreach.
Practical implications
This case offers encouraging insights for how even a smaller college or university might successfully create and sustain a thriving successful student-led investment group with a relatively limited amount of funding and resources by leveraging liberal arts foundations.
Originality/value
An emphasis on how student-managed investment groups are tied to broader liberal arts foundations potentially helps schools of all sizes understand certain unique underlying value aspects for the students, the business programs and the broader university community.
Details
Keywords
Lawrence J. Belcher and Landon J. Belcher
The “experience is the best teacher” model assumes that acquiring expertise in a given domain reduces biases. Research in expert knowledge in investment decisions has shown better…
Abstract
Purpose
The “experience is the best teacher” model assumes that acquiring expertise in a given domain reduces biases. Research in expert knowledge in investment decisions has shown better ability to produce improved results in asset selection or portfolio returns. Universities created student-managed investment funds (SMIFs) to train students in portfolio management as fiduciaries. However, analyses of the effectiveness of the SMIF as a medium for expert knowledge transfer have not been done.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors’ analyze an SMIF's structure against established models of expert knowledge transfer, using the voting patterns of the trustees of the fund from the recorded minutes of the fund's meetings to show the fund's structure and outcomes demonstrate effective knowledge transfer. Voter consensus between faculty and student trustees is one proxy the authors use for knowledge transfer.
Findings
Consensus between faculty and students was uniformly high across all recommendations. Chi-square tests were employed to test for independence between approval of recommendation and level of consensus, showing dependence in most cases. Analysis of sale returns over the 12-year sample period showed significantly better performance of asset sales over relevant benchmarks for both equity and fixed income portfolios.
Originality/value
Most analyses of SMIF structure concentrate on well-known issues with things like student turnover, summers or other structural issues. Performance is evaluated based on returns. This study looks at the SMIF as an expert knowledge transfer medium and examines expert/novice decision approval in terms of knowledge transfer.
Details
Keywords
Alphil Maria Joseph, Jerrin Jose and Anusha Srinivasan Iyer
This paper aims to explore how the student fund managers perceive the benefits of being part of the fund. Furthermore, this paper examines the country-specific challenges of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how the student fund managers perceive the benefits of being part of the fund. Furthermore, this paper examines the country-specific challenges of setting up and managing a student-managed investment fund (SMIF) in India.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative content analysis technique is used to identify, compare and retrieve critical themes about the present state of SMIF clubs in India. The data collection method involved structured, in-depth online interviews with ten student fund managers from various higher educational institutions in India.
Findings
Some of the study’s key findings indicate that the existence of SMIFs as part of learning facilitates group decision-making and peer learning. Additionally, this study brings to light specific issues related to registration, incorporating real-world practices and integrating SMIF into the academic curriculum.
Social implications
The outcomes of this study shall be of use to students and the teaching fraternity across Indian colleges and universities who aspire to set up SMIFs as part of experiential learning. This study will also help existing SMIF clubs in India understand how their counterparts work and can consequently improvise their organizational structure and functioning.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first interview-based evaluation of the present structure of SMIFs structured as clubs in India.
Details
Keywords
Jared H. Bowers and Angeline M. Lavin
The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a model that can be used to help students learn the investment analysis process and accurately identify good and bad investment…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a model that can be used to help students learn the investment analysis process and accurately identify good and bad investment opportunities.
Design/methodology/approach
The model tested in this research was developed by a former member of the student managed investment fund Coyote Capital Management at the University of South Dakota. The goal of this project was to refine that original model and test it using historical data from a sample of companies during both bull and bear market periods.
Findings
During the bull market period (2004‐2006), 81 per cent of the model's recommendations were correct, and during the 2007‐2009 bear market period, approximately 66 per cent of the model's recommends were correct.
Originality/value
While following the model's recommendations could potentially produce returns well above those of the market in the best case scenario and returns in line with the market in the worst case scenario, there are many factors that should go into making an investment decision. This model can be useful as an item in the investor's tool kit, and it has the potential to help students better understand the process of evaluating an investment opportunity.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the embedded challenges of student-managed investment funds (SMIFs) and provide recommendations to work with these issues.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the embedded challenges of student-managed investment funds (SMIFs) and provide recommendations to work with these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyzes and critiques the ways SMIFs are structured and operated and makes several suggestions.
Findings
The paper details seven unique challenges of SMIFs compared to professionally managed investment funds. The source of these challenges is that SMIFs are set up for educational purposes, which makes the operation and management different from performance-focused investment funds. The paper proposes several recommendations on how to align the educational focus with fund performance.
Originality/value
The paper is original and based on primary research.
Details
Keywords
Michael Phillips, John Volker and Susan Cockrell
The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed framework of goals, processes and solutions that can serve as a starting point for instructors in designing their own…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed framework of goals, processes and solutions that can serve as a starting point for instructors in designing their own student-managed investment fund (SMIF) course experience that is relevant for all undergraduate business majors.
Design/methodology/approach
The design is suitable for a wide audience without prior equity investment expertise, lead to equity portfolio management competency and concentrate heavily on the understanding of the elements of a competitive business model. One noteworthy aspect of the proposed pedagogy is that it does not require a text, uses only real-world resources and is flexible in its execution.
Findings
The proposed pedagogy has achieved long-term success by consistently exceeding performance expectations.
Originality/value
According to the extant literature, many SMIFs are restricted to only a few students, develop skills unevenly across class participants, or are not formally organized or executed. There is a lack of in-depth and specific resources available in the extant literature to assist course designers in an SMIF design and execution. This manuscript fills this void by providing a detailed framework of goals, processes and solutions that can serve as a starting point for instructors in designing their own SMIF course experience.
Details
Keywords
Chinmoy Ghosh, Paul Gilson and Michel Rakotomavo
The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the student managed investment fund at the School of Business, University of Connecticut.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the student managed investment fund at the School of Business, University of Connecticut.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors trace the history and growth of the fund and identify the special features and dimensions that have contributed to its success.
Findings
The operation of the fund is a constantly evolving program and the authors discuss the important changes and improvements made in the program since its inception in the early 2000s in response to growth in the number of finance majors, new career opportunities in the field of investments and most importantly, the strength of capital markets and the development of new instruments in the capital markets. The authors also discuss the common features of over 300 student funds in the USA. The authors close with a discussion of the limitations and constraints the fund advisors at, and possibly, at other schools, face in the management and administration of the fund, and also what developments and adjustments the authors expect to see in these funds in the future.
Originality/value
The authors combine extensive analyses of fund history and performance. The authors also provide some suggestions for the future direction and priorities for student funds.
Details
Keywords
In 2004, Roanoke College began offering a Student-Managed Fund course, wherein students were able to manage a portfolio of equity and fixed income using real money. While not a…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2004, Roanoke College began offering a Student-Managed Fund course, wherein students were able to manage a portfolio of equity and fixed income using real money. While not a widely adopted concept at the time, it has since become quite common in finance programs, either through courses or clubs. In February 2019, the author supplemented activities in the course with the addition of real cryptoassets for students to manage. The paper discusses the design, implementation, and pedagogical advantages of the fund.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper expands on the existing literature regarding student-managed investment funds (SMIFs or SMFs) by presenting a case study on the implementation of a student-managed cryptoasset fund at Roanoke College.
Findings
The value of experiential learning through student-managed funds (SMFs) is well established. Thus, these programs have become much more common in recent years and are now often expanding to securities beyond equities and bonds. The introduction of cryptoassets to be traded by students at Roanoke College is another step in improving students' exposure to various markets and appears to further improve research and critical thinking skills.
Originality/value
This is certainly one of the first, and to the author's knowledge may be the only, real money cryptoasset fund managed by students.
Details
Keywords
Thomas S. Howe, Vladimir Kotomin, Min-Yu (Stella) Liao and Abhishek Varma
The purpose of this paper is to document and compare the characteristics of two student-managed investment funds at the University.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to document and compare the characteristics of two student-managed investment funds at the University.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a case study approach to achieve this purpose.
Findings
Consistent with other studies, this study finds considerable differences in funding, oversight and the structure of the courses in which the students manage the portfolios. This is the case even though the portfolios are managed by students in courses offered by the same department at the same university.
Originality/value
This study presents different possible ways of obtaining funds and structuring courses in which the students manage investment portfolios.
Details
Keywords
Sean Reid, Jason Muenzen and Rasoul Rezvanian
This paper aims to provide students with a career edge, business students require more than concepts and calculations to be successful in their future career. They require…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide students with a career edge, business students require more than concepts and calculations to be successful in their future career. They require professional skill sets, mentors, relationship guides and as much real industry experience as they can gather before graduation. This study sheds some light on how a small business school (SBS) in a nonprofit private academic institution (NPAI) located in an isolated rural area of the USA has been able to tap its strong alumni relationships to provide mentoring and experiential learning opportunities to students using its student-managed investment funds (SMIFs) as the vehicle. Although this study uses a small, geographically isolated institution, the authors believe that the approach taken by this particular school can be replicated by any academic institution that strives to enhance student learning experience by promoting mentorship and experiential learning.
Design/methodology/approach
This study starts with a brief introduction (Section 1) and a short review of literature (Section 2) to highlight the numerous benefits of alumni engagement and student mentorship. Section 2 shows institutional background on the NPAI, the SBS and the SMIF. The major part of the study starts with a discussion on the set of rules to guide in the construction of a student-alumni relationship framework that could be easily modified to the unique characteristics of the institution. Next, the role and responsibility of the investment advisory board (IAB) and its members’ engagement with students are discussed. In the last part of the study, SBS is used as a case study to show how alumni contribute to SBS and enhance students’ experiential learning by contributing as mentor, IAB member, advisors to the FMIF and career mentorship. This study concludes with a discussion on potential areas of conflict and friction for alumni involvement.
Findings
This study shows that SBS in a NPAI has been able to tap its strong alumni relationship to provide mentoring and experiential learning opportunities to students using its SMIF as the vehicle. The authors believe that the approach taken by this particular school can be replicated by any academic institution that strives to promote mentorship and experiential learning.
Research limitations/implications
This case study is focused on a SBS in a NPAI that has a strong alumni relationship and enough resources to successfully tap on its alumni. It would be interesting to learn how this approach can be used in resource-limited public institutions.
Practical implications
As the case study shows, any business school that values experiential learning can rely on its alumni to enhance student learning experience by properly using its alumni resources.
Social implications
The results of this study show that business schools’ outreach opportunities and student experiential learning experience can be enhanced and business schools’ academic qualification and ranking, which leads to improvement in student enrollment, can be improved. Overall, the major beneficiary would be the business schools’ immediate and larger community.
Originality/value
The authors are positive that multiple universities are properly taking advantage of using their alumni relationship.
Details