Search results

The purpose of this research is to supply basic statistics of fees and expenses charged by mutual funds in Thailand, and to investigate the economic determinants of the variations in these charges.

The authors construct an original dataset on characteristics of Thai mutual funds from annual reports filed between 2005 and 2007, and then use statistical analysis to investigate variations in fees and expenses.

Funds that are small, entail higher risk, and offer special income tax benefits charge higher fees and expenses. Bond funds that produce high returns on investment tend to charge significantly lower fees and expenses when compared to those that produce low returns.

Statistics from the gathered data can help investors better evaluate Thai mutual funds. Determinants of variations in the fees and expenses can yield useful insights for policy makers regarding the competition and efficiency of the asset management industry.

This paper adds to a small but growing literature that investigates characteristics of the asset management industries outside of the United States and Europe.

The purpose of this paper is to examine market concentration, economies of scale, economies of scope, and the relative size of a particular fund, within a fund family, as determinants of mutual‐fund expense ratio. This examination is focused at the asset‐manager level and is based on the Morningstar equity and fixed‐income style classifications.

All data used in this study come from the July Morningstar Principia database for the years 1997 through 2006. One challenge of working with these data is that Morningstar treats each separate class of a fund as though it were an individual fund. As a result all Morningstar data items are reported for each fund class as though they are data items for a separate fund. The data are modified so that the items for separate classes of a fund are merged into data for a single fund. For example, assets in a fund become the total of the assets in each class of the fund.

This study contributes to the literature on mutual‐fund managers, and the literature on the structure of mutual funds, by showing that market concentration at the asset‐manager level varies substantially across Morningstar styles, particularly for the fixed‐income funds. The paper shows that increased market concentration is associated with greater expenses for the funds under management, within a given Morningstar‐style box, for both equity funds and for fixed‐income funds. We also show that increased costs are partially offset by economies of scope for the fixed‐income funds.

This paper extends the current literature in several ways. First, it confirms the existence of economies of scale at the fund level within Morningstar style classifications. Second, it documents the existence of varying levels of market concentration within different Morningstar style classifications. Third, the results demonstrate that there is a negative relation between the scope of funds handled across the Morningstar classifications by a particular fund manager and the expense ratio for particular funds. Finally, the results presented in this paper show that the largest funds within a family are associated with the highest expense ratios in the family.

Strategic asset management (SAM) provides guiding principles for strategic planning, procurement, use and disposal of public sector buildings. It is proposed that the whole SAM process must incorporate the principles and practices of ecologically sustainable development (ESD) founded upon intra‐generational equity, intergenerational equity, biodiversity, precaution, true cost assessment and continuous improvement principles. The paper presents observations and interim conclusions from a research project to develop a methodology of SAM incorporating the principles and practices of ESD. The paper describes the principles of SAM and ESD, makes observations about actual and potential connections and puts forward a matrix which correlates steps in SAM processes with desired outcomes of ESD. This matrix exploits a life‐cycle assessment approach used to develop planning frameworks, useful for developing macro‐level concepts such as ecological footprints and micro‐level building performance benchmarks. It is postulated that the goal of ‘sustainable building’ must become embedded in existing processes of SAM and in any improvements to those processes. It is understood that any integrated system of SAM and ESD will use, conserve and enhance the community’s resources so that ecological processes, on which life depends, are maintained and the total quality of life, now and in the future, can be increased.

As the prolonged effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has materially impacted investment returns significantly, it is more crucial than ever for institutional investors to redefine their property portfolios using assets with better investment management potential and meaningful diversification benefits. The “alternative asset revolution” is gaining traction in the property investment space internationally among institutional investors due to the shifting investment attitudes towards the alternative property sectors. Australia's $205bn healthcare property sector is at the forefront of this revolution due to its societal significance, as well as its attractive investment qualities. This paper investigates the institutional investor management of the Australian healthcare property sector via both the direct and listed channels and empirically analyses its investment attributes.

Using the unique Morgan Stanley Capital International/Property Council of Australia quarterly data set for Australian direct healthcare property over 2006–2020, the risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification potential direct healthcare property and listed healthcare were assessed. A constrained mean-variance portfolio optimisation framework was used to develop a six-asset portfolio scenario to analyse the portfolio added-value benefits of both direct healthcare property and listed healthcare in a mixed-asset investment strategy. A similar set of analysis was performed using the post-global financial crisis (GFC) quarterly time series of 2009–2020 to investigate the healthcare asset class' performance dynamics in the post-GFC investment timeframe.

The results indicate that direct healthcare property and listed healthcare offer two key advantages for institutional investors in managing their property portfolios: (1) a stable yet superior risk-adjusted performance and (2) significant portfolio diversification potential in managing their property portfolios. Importantly, both direct healthcare property and listed healthcare provided valuable contributions in strengthening an investment portfolio's performance. The post-GFC sub-period analysis revealed a consistent conclusion regarding the healthcare asset class's performance attributes.

This is the first research that provides an independent empirical examination of the strategic importance of Australian healthcare property as a maturing alternative property sector that can serve both investment and environmental, social and governance goals of investors. This research presents a positive investment prognosis for the Australian healthcare property sector to achieve its institutionalised status as a mainstream asset class of the future.

This paper aims to investigate private pension fund investor sentiment against fund performance and cost in an environment of frequent regulatory changes. The analyses are conducted in a low return, high-cost private pension fund market environment, which makes it easier to observe the relationship between investor sentiment to return and cost.

This paper conducts fixed effect, random effect and random effect within between effect panel data analyses of all Turkish private pension funds from 2011 to 2019. This paper conducts the analyses using aggregate data and subsets based on fund characteristics and pre-post regulation periods.

When regulations provide compensation and improve market efficiency in a pension fund market, investor focus shifted from performance to cost. Investors allocated assets with respect to return realization when adequately compensated for risk or had favorable cost contract clauses. Consequently, investors in pension funds with lower expected returns and no special fee reduction clauses tended to adopt the strategy of cost minimization.

The overlap of regulatory change periods could complicate the ability to distinguish the impact of any one specific change. The findings therefore cannot be generalized to differently structured markets.

Regulatory changes could lead to a switch of investor objectives. When regulatory changes compensate investors and increase market efficiency, investors objective could switch from performance to cost.

This study investigates investor sentiment in a relatively young private pension fund market, in which the relevant regulatory body ambitiously implements frequent changes in regulation. The selected market is unique in the sense that it has negative real returns and high costs, which make investor focus to return and cost more readily apparent.

Examine the extent of integration in delivering value from design and construction (DC) activities for total asset management (TAM) and operations post-completion. DC and operations and management (OM) are both addressed. The problem owners are those in roles and organisations responsible for integrating DC with OM. The purpose of this paper is to show the extent of integration between actors along the project lifecycle. Relationally integrated value networks (RIVANS) provide the conceptual lens for the analysis.

A mixed method approach was used. A questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews were employed.

There is a lack of engagement between DC and OM. The trend is moving counter to integration. BIM is not found to be a technical solution.

The mixed method helps extend the RIVANS perspective. Further research to understand and support integration is needed, especially qualitative research to provide greater granular understanding.

The identified trend away from integration poses management challenges in delivery and for sustainability in use. Supply chains engage specialists, yet internal and inter-organisational collaboration require management attention to value creation. This includes the DC-OM interface. Both sides can benefit from increased engagement.

Infrastructure and property provision will continue to fall short of user and environmental functionality without improved integration.

A contribution to the project and asset management interface is made, showing low integration, disengaged asset management. BIM is unable to plug the gaps. The RIVANS analytical lens provides a perspective for improvement.

The purpose of this paper is to determine what aspects of board independence, in terms of board structure and characteristics of non‐executive directors (NEDs), are associated with effective monitoring of management, as evidenced through lower levels of earnings management.

This paper examines the effectiveness of board independence requirements under the 2003 Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) Principles of Good Corporate Governance and Best Practice Recommendations (POGCG) for a sample of 231 firms listed on the ASX in the financial year 2005. The associations of board composition, share ownership and compensation of NEDs with the level of earnings management are estimated. To explore the characteristics of NEDs that are important for effective monitoring, NEDs are separated into “grey” (affiliated) directors and independent directors and compensation is separated into variable and fixed components.

The results of the paper indicate a positive relation between earnings management and share ownership of NEDs, particularly that of grey directors. There is a negative relation between NED compensation and the level of earnings management, particularly the fixed compensation component for independent directors.

This paper is important to shareholders, academics and policy makers because it shows the type of remuneration and ownership levels for NEDs that are consistent with good corporate governance. NEDs are more effective monitors when independent directors are compensated more as a fixed amount that is not related to the firm's performance. The compensation of grey directors is not associated with the level of earnings management. On the other hand, NEDs are less effective monitors as share ownership by grey directors increases. The share ownership of independent directors is not associated with the level of earnings management. To ensure the independence of the board and enhance its ability and incentives to effectively monitor management, the paper recommends that remuneration of NEDs should be a fixed amount, and the share ownership of NEDs should be limited.

The findings provide guidance as to the meaning of board independence, in terms of the payments and returns that NEDs receive from a company. The results provide support for recommendation 2.1 in the ASX's POGCG that requires the majority of the board to be independent directors. The paper highlights the need for boards to be careful when choosing and rewarding NEDs.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the organizational form of an investment management firm affects the performance of the mutual funds under its operation. More explicitly, this study aims to test whether funds managed by publicly listed firms achieve different risk-adjusted performance when compared with funds operated by privately held investment firms.

This study uses Jensen's alpha to measure funds’ performance based on the Carhart’s (1997) benchmarks and market timing factors. The researchers test the relation between fund performance and organizational form using regressions. It alleviates the reverse causality and endogeneity using propensity score matching (PSM) methodology. The study investigates the difference in performance of funds managed by public firms on the post- vs pre- initial public offering (IPO) basis. Alternatively, this study tests the performance change post-public listing of the parent firm. It computes the difference for a matched sample of funds managed by private firms that were likely to go public but did not. The researchers match funds using PSM methodology.

This paper provides robust evidence that publicly traded management companies administer relatively under-performing mutual funds in comparison to those managed by privately held firms. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that confirms that organizational decision is endogenous to performance. The study finds that after a privately held company goes public, the performance of their mutual funds and the performance of the matched group funds, whose companies remained private at the same time, tends to decline, compared with companies prior to the public offering. However, the decline in mutual fund performance is larger for the companies who chose to pursue their IPO.

The contribution of this study to the literature is twofold. First, while there is a wealth of literature on the impact of ownership structures on corporate performance, there are very few studies focused on mutual fund markets, despite the evidence that supports a generally mixed effect. This study confirms that the performance of mutual funds managed by publicly traded investments firms is lower than that of funds managed by privately held firms. Second, the organizational decision (private vs public) is not exogenous but depends on the actual funds’ performance.

This paper examines the relationship between poison pills, real earnings management and initial public offering (IPO) failure.

The authors sampled 2,997 IPO firms that went public during 1993-2015.

The authors find that IPO firms manipulate earnings upward using real earnings management. The authors also find that IPO firms exhibiting a higher level of real earnings management have a higher probability of IPO failure. In addition, the authors find that weak shareholders' governance is positively associated with IPO failure.

These results suggest that poor governance structures in failed firms open the door to manipulating real activities and increasing operational risk.

The study findings are of most significant interest to potential investors and other stakeholders affiliated with a firm going public, an auditor, an underwriter, the lawyers who consult with the firm and employees or executives who might consider joining that firm.

School infrastructure is one of critical factors that significantly contribute to the educational outcomes, and therefore, maintaining the high quality of school infrastructure becomes of critical importance. Due to the ageing of school assets over time in combination with budget constraint and rapid growth of student enrolment, many public schools are currently struggling to maintain the required standard for long term. However, to date, the goal of providing the best maintenance practices to public schools has not been achieved.

The present study focuses on studying the balance between the asset and maintenance management strategies and the funding model through conducting state-of-the-art literature review and qualitative analysis in the context of public schools in Australia and other developed countries around the world. Review of journal articles, different government reports and other available resources were used to collect and analyse the data in this study.

As part of this review, significant under investment in maintenance and asset renewals were identified as main challenges in asset management in public school facilities. Although different maintenance strategies were used in school infrastructure, adequate funding, adequate robust asset management plans (AMPs) and the involvement of private sectors have been identified as the key factors that govern the success in school infrastructure maintenance. It also shows that funding of approximately 2–3% of asset replacement value (ARV) on school infrastructure is required to maintain school facilities for long-term. Further, the procurement methods such as public private partnership including private finance initiatives (PFIs) have shown great improvements in maintenance process in school infrastructure.

The study provides a review of different AMPs and funding models in school infrastructure and their efficiencies and shortcoming in detail. Different states and countries use different maintenance models, and challenges associated with each model were also discussed. Further this study also provides some conclusive evidence for better maintenance performance for school buildings.