Fund families strategically shape their member funds' behavior to target specific groups of investors with varying performance and service needs. In this paper I introduce a new measure to identify performance-oriented and service-oriented funds. Matching theories from the industrial...

We document that the speed of information dissemination within mutual fund families positively affects the performance of member funds. This suggests that the resulting benefits of higher information precision far outweigh free-riding costs associated with fast internal dissemination. The...

This paper investigates the impact of work group diversity on performance. Analyzing a uniquely large sample of management teams from the U.S. mutual fund industry we find that the influence of diversity on performance depends on the dimension of diversity that is analyzed. Informational...

I investigate the consequences for mutual funds' operational outcomes when fund families focus their efforts on their core competency, i.e. portfolio management, by outsourcing noncore activities to external providers. Specifically, I find that funds of families that outsource shareholder...

investigate the consequences for mutual funds' operational outcomes when fund families focus their efforts on their core competency, i.e. portfolio management, by outsourcing noncore activities to external providers. Specifically, I find that funds of families that outsource shareholder services...

We examine how speed of information diffusion within mutual fund families affects the performance and trading behavior of the corresponding member mutual funds. Timely information flows within the organization lead to better fund performance, and even more so when information flows across funds...

I provide evidence that fund managers who overweight firms with the most differentiated products ('monopolies') exhibit a superior risk-adjusted performance. This is consistent with information advantages due to a better understanding of qualitative information on a firm's competitive...

Processing qualitative information about a firm's product market competition matters for fund performance. I find that fund managers with a better understanding of a firm's market power exhibit a superior risk-adjusted performance. Managers who overweight companies with the fewest competitors...

Processing qualitative information about a firm's product market competition matters for professional investors. Consistent with a superior understanding of a firm's market power, fund managers who overweight companies with the fewest competitors (monopolies) outperform their peers. An exogenous...

Taking a firm’s competitive position into account benefits investors who are better at evaluating this qualitative information. I find that fund managers who overweight companies withmarket power outperform their peers. Placebo exercises and an exogenous shock to productmarket competition...