Book Description
Real estate investment trusts (REITs) make commercial real estate profits available to everyone! REITs are one of the hottest and most potentially lucrative investment vehicles in the market today. Find out how you can take advantage of these increasingly popular securities in the powerful new book Real Estate Investment Trusts. Professionals Richard T. Garrigan and John F.C. Parsons have gathered over 20 of todayÕs most influential opinion leaders to explain how investors both large and small are beating the S&P 500 with REITs, how these REITs combine superior income and growth with relative safety, behind-the-scenes information on how to assemble and launch a successful REIT, and statistical support for market confidence in the long-term appreciation potential of REITs. Whether you are a real estate investment professional seeking comprehensive information on todayÕs REIT operational requirements; an investment professional needing to better understand REITs; or an individual investor interested in diversifying your own portfolio into real estate, Real Estate Investment Trusts will open your eyes to the incredible opportunities available in todayÕs REIT market. Order this well-researched, interesting and informative book today.
Customer Reviews:
Dull and disappointing.......2005-06-11
I bought this book because I am an investor in REITS and wanted to get a deeper insight into comparing different REITs to find the best ones to invest in. I wanted to be able to read the balance sheets of several different REITs and decide which is the better investment. This book left me bored and no further forward.
The main problem is that each chapter is written by a different "expert" on a particular topic such as "Asset Allocation" or "Institutional Investing". Firstly these experts may be great money managers but they are dull writers without a jot of personality. The chapter on Tax Treatment of REITs is a lifeless regurgitation of the tax code. Worse, the editors did not steer each contributor strictly enough to avoid repetition and as a result every chapter begins with yet another review of REIT history.
There was no analysis of different REIT business models, such as trading CMOs compared with Residential or Office space. There is no analysis of how to tell good REIT managers from ordinary ones. I was optimistic about the chapter on Asset Allocation to see how REITs fit in with stock and bonds in your portfolio but again I was disapppointed. After grinding through page after page differential equations the chapter fizzled out with no mention of reccomended asset allocation ratios.
I gave the book 2 stars instead of none because the data seems to be accurate and authoritative but then so is the maintenance manual for my vacuum cleaner. A $75 book has a duty to do more than assemble boring facts in sequence.
I don't really know who this book is targeted towards. If you are going to be a junior paper pusher employed by a REIT it may give you a head start but the rest of the planet should look somewhere else.
An excellent overview of the REIT Industry.......1999-07-17
The book provided an insightful overview of the REIT industry. The book was organized by various topics relating to investing and managing a REIT. The chapters were written by practioners and academics working in the different REIT industry areas. The authors were able to provide vital insights into their areas of expertise. As a new REIT employee I learned about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for my company and the REIT industry as a whole. some of the chapters were a bit technical in nature; particularly the analysis on historical private verses public REIT returns. Overall the book should be required reading for REIT investors and Managers as well.
Book Description
Managing Financial Risk provides an up-to-date, comprehensive look at how derivatives can be used to manage risk and maximize value within today's highly volatile financial environment. The authors provide in-depth explanations of forwards, futures, swaps, options and "exotic" derivatives, showing how to use these instruments to hedge a firm against unexpected movements in foreign exchange rates, interest rates, and commodity prices. Invaluable to every corporate financial professional, Managing Financial Risk explains: How risk management can increase a firm's value; The variety of risk management products, including forwards, futures, swaps, options, and hybrid securites-as well as a practical approach to implementing these products in a firm; The essentials of financial engineering including how to build customized hedging instruments that accomplish an organization's specific risk management objectives.
Customer Reviews:
Dated and with plenty of mistakes.......2006-03-01
I had to buy this book as it was the text book for one of the subjects that I am studying.
Dated: e.g. Many examples that deal with European currencies that were replaced by the Euro.
Errors: In the illustrations, there are some calculations that take incorrect parameters to derive the results (obviously yielding wrong results). This is misleading and time consuming.
Verbosity: The book explains in twenty pages something that can be explained in five.
No good.
Very much better than some people might think!.......2005-11-30
For those of you who may not be aware, Charles Smithson is the "father" of the building-block approach to making derivatives understandable, showing a linked, family-tree approach, rather than each explaining each one separately with no clear connections. He is both a top practitioner with many years of senior-level experience, as well as an academic for more theoretical work.
I am amazed at some of the negative reviews. I can only think that is because there aren't enough partial differential equations and complex pricing/hedging models (there really aren't any, but that doesn't make this a simplistic book). I also teach finance at the Masters level, as well as teaching practical applications of derivatives to various bank clients.
In my oppinion, this is the single best book on derivatives for non-specialists that I have seen (and I have seen most of the derivatives books around). Even people on the trading floor would benefit from the clear forest-for-the-trees approach. This is not an easy book, though it doesn't require any more than school algebra (with the exeption of one chapter on option pricing, contributed by Cliff Smith and, even there, the calculus could be skipped over lightly). This book will give the reader a very good understanding of the most important aspects of derivatives and their applications. This is something that is often woefully lacking in banks, where the focus is on the minutiae of quantitative models, treated almost as an exercise in math, without a very clear understanding of the finance that the math is there to model. The treatment is broad and balanced, from pure product knowledge to issuer applications to investor applications and to banks managing their own market risk. This breadth is very rare in derivatives books.
My only criticisms are that there are some mistakes (as in most technical books that are not textbooks, benefiting from the review of many students, if you look hard enough for them) and there is insufficient emphasis now on credit derivatives and the management of credit risk, though I feel sure Charles Smithson will address that in the next edition - he has written a separate book "Credit Portfolio Management."
Perhaps someone should take up the offer of a free copy from a previous reviewer - a real "free lunch." I highly recommend this book to relative beginners, as well as to experienced practitioners who want more breadth.
Covers a lot of grounds on derivatives. Great reference........2003-05-29
I bought this book to give myself a thorough education on derivatives. And, I got it. It is very readable, yet it covers all the topics in adequate technical detail, so you can hold your own in the company of derivatives traders and the like. I often refer to this book, to refresh my memory on the different structure of option models, or how to value an interest rate swap. This is the sort of stuff you will not remember unless you use these concepts on a weekly basis. But, with this book, it does not matter, it is easy to refresh your knowledge.
Caveat Emptor.......2001-10-04
I also use this book as part of the Masters course in Sydney and I cannot remember the last time I picked it up to read as I have better things to do with my time than try and work through the glaring errors in formulae, graphs and general commentary. The presentation is verbose and circumlocutory and to add to the frustration often wrong. I feel obliged to warn potential buyers not to make the same mistake that I have. Gallitz on Financial Engineering is a far more interesting and accurate text and for the rigours of applied financial maths Mastering financial calculations teaches you more in 200 pages than Smithson could in a lifetime of trying to improve on this first edition. If anyone would like my copy of Smithson I'm happy to give it away for fear further sales may encourage McGraw Hill to continue publishing the book.
Financial Book, not for begineer.......2000-09-16
The book is written in a complex way. For example, a simple future contract, was explained in long and complex way. It is not able to show the point directly. Anyway, it is not a bad point. It has some quite excellent practical example. It is the most valuable parts of the book.
Product Description
Two fundamentally different business models of capitalism are operating in the business world today. One is self-destructive and increasingly corrupt. The other is emergent, flourishing, and inspirational. The author explains the differences between the two and reveals the extraordinary results of the more successful model. Profit for Life draws on nearly forty years of research on the empirical connections between stewardship and profitability.
Customer Reviews:
Review of Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels by Joseph H. Bragdon.......2007-04-08
Profit for Life shatters the old paradigm that success in business means sucking the life from people and natural resources by viewing both as dispensable commodities. By showing us how success in business--including big business--goes hand-in-hand with respect for human and natural communities, Bragdon frees us from the wrenching misconception that profit and citizenship represent a kind of zero-sum game.
Bragdon unites head and heart in one of the most uplifting books I have ever read. Profit for Life offers hope with a firm footing. I recommend Profit for Life to anyone with an interest in business management, strategic investment, or corporate citizenship.
Daniel D. Dutcher, J.D., Ph.D.
Project Director
The Clean Energy Group
Montpelier, Vermont
Book Review for Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels.......2007-01-31
Book Review for Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels
by Ann McGee-Cooper
How do you measure the value of servant leadership in business? How can we know it works? These have been two of the most frequently asked questions in our consulting practice over the past 30 years.
In Profit for Life, Jay Bragdon provides us with some compelling answers. He does this by setting aside much of the linear cause-and-effect thinking that drives business these days, and adopts a more rounded, holistic approach that gives us deeper insight into the firm.
The book is based on the experiences of 60 companies - Bragdon's "learning lab" - that broadly represent the industry/sector diversity of the world economy. Throughout the text he describes 16 of these pioneering companies, called the Focus Group. The distinguishing feature of all these firms is their effort to mimic living systems - in the ways they organize, manage and add value. This mental model is radically different from the traditional one that views the firm as a money making machine.
Although it may seem counter intuitive, the living system approach yields vastly superior results than the traditional one. For example, the average equity return of learning lab companies was nearly double the S&P 500 over the past decade; and their excess performance continues as this review is written. Bragdon expects such premium returns will diminish over time as the more effective methods of the living system model become copied and enter the mainstream. Nevertheless, these results are a strong affirmation of the milieu in which servant leadership normally operates.
Servant leadership, to Bragdon, is all about relationships. He says "relational equity" is the foundation on which companies build financial equity. When companies care about people and the things people care about, Employees become inspired and their inspiration cascades into everything they do, including their relationships with customers, suppliers and other key stakeholders.
The raison d'etre of these servant-led firms is value creation - value that permeates all relationships. Companies that excel at such value creation pursue a strategy Bragdon calls "living asset stewardship" (LAS). The fundamental premise of LAS is: Profit arises from life, and must therefore serve life if it is to be sustainable.
To understand the strategic value of living asset stewardship, Bragdon makes a critical distinction between living assets (people and Nature) and non-living capital assets (buildings, equipment and financial reserves). We see this in three contexts. First, people are closely bonded to Nature - genetically, physically and spiritually - in ways that capital assets are not. Second, living assets are the source of non-living capital assets. And third, because living assets are inherently creative and emergent, their value grows over time rather than depreciating as capital assets do.
The operating leverage in the learning lab and the 16 Focus Group companies resides in the human heart rather than in mechanistic financial gearing. This is supported by the fact that they generate consistently higher returns on equity while carrying substantially lower debt ratios.
Although traditionally managed companies have been adopting some stewardship practices in the past decade, Bragdon finds their approach differs fundamentally from those in his study. In the mechanistic view of these firms, stewardship is an add-on that is subservient to their drive for profit. By contrast, in companies that have adopted the living system model, LAS is deeply woven into the value creation process - reflecting the fact that they see themselves as "living" and therefore integral to, rather than separate from, Nature and society.
Profit for Life builds on the brilliant work of Arie deGeus, former coordinator of Group Planning at Royal Dutch/Shell, and Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson. DeGeus' classic, The Living Company, noted that long-lived companies had a collective consciousness, were sensitive to their environments, tried to work in harmony with the world around them, and strove to leave a legacy to future generations. Wilson tells us this collective consciousness is an expression of humanity's deep affinity for life, which he calls "biophilia," and that our biophilic instincts have evolved over thousands of generations of natural selection.
In my work as a teacher of servant leadership, I would highlight the paradigm shift Bragdon describes. The mission of leaders in LAS organizations is to serve and grow their people because that is the source of the firm's liveliness and capacity for growth. As Robert K. Greenleaf said: "The first order of business is to build a group of people who, under the influence of the institution, grow taller and become healthier, stronger and more autonomous." That seminal quote is used twice in the book to describe the power and generative capacity of LAS.
I highly recommend this book and will be using it regularly in our practice.
Ann McGee-Cooper, Ed.D., Business Consultant & Executive coach
in the field of Servant Leadership & growing Learning Organization.
Ann McGee-Cooper & Associates, Inc.
An Extraordinary Book: A Must Read.......2006-11-26
I intend to recommend Profit for Life to all my current MBA students. Next fall I am team teaching an MBA core course that combines Operations Management and Managerial Accounting. I intend to make the case that your book should be required reading and part of the course.
I became familiar with the work of W. Edwards Deming in 1990 and attended one of his four day seminars a year later. I also began to follow Peter Senge's work and later read Margaret Wheatley's book, Leadership and the New Science. Tom Johnson's book, Profit Beyond Measure, has been required reading in my Advanced Managerial Accounting elective at the MBA level.
Bragdon's book has brought the ideas, theories, and concepts discussed by these individuals together for me in a way that I could not have imagined. More importantly, he has not only taken their ideas to the next level, but done it in a way that provides a tangible blue print for how to change our current style of command and control management with its focus on profit maximization to a LAS Theory of Management.
The use of the sixteen focus companies from the LAMP INDEX and the author's ability ability to clearly show the distinctions in their style of management from the traditional management models that continue to be taught in almost all business schools, and the success these companies have achieved not just financially, gives those of us hoping to change management education and core business curriculums a new hope.
Thank you for such an outstanding book.
Joseph F. Castellano
Professor, Department of Accounting
University of Dayton Business School
Excellent, highly readable information.......2006-11-18
This is not one of those lightweight business books that repeats its Chapter 1 message over and over. It's chock full of research-based information that anyone involved in the sustainability movement should have. The publisher is Peter Senge's non-profit, so if you're familiar with his excellent work over the years, this would make a great addition to your library. The author's passion for his subject is obvious from page one.
Average customer rating:
- Interesting Book Flawed by Numerous Typos
- Lacks Depth of Coverage
- Only focuses on risk of returns and leverage
- BEWARE!
- Good book with a very narrow focus
|
The Hedge Fund Handbook: A Definitive Guide for Analyzing and Evlaluating Alternative Investments
Stefano Lavinio
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
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Hedgehogging
ASIN: 0071350306 |
Book Description
Hedge funds--one of today's most popular and lucrative investments for high net-worth individuals--also carry tremendous risk for the unwary. The Hedge Fund Handbook provides new tools and frameworks for understanding these complex funds, with the emphasis on risk measurement and management. Extensive charts and graphs demonstrate the inadequacies of traditional methods of analysis while offering the reader a striking new method for detailed, accurate analysis.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting Book Flawed by Numerous Typos.......2006-07-31
This book is certainly not a definitive guide to evaluating hedge funds. It focuses pretty much exclusively on a number of tools for evaluating the risks and returns of hedge funds from a quantitative perspective. It discusses and illustrates some interesting ideas such as the Hurst Index and d ratio to help us evaluate the dynamic nature of hedge fund returns. However, the book is flawed by many figures that either do not display what they are said to in the text or sometimes simply repeat the previous figure with a different number and caption, or perhaps are completely wrong. This makes the book hard to understand in parts.
Lacks Depth of Coverage.......2003-04-26
I read this book in about an hour, it is vey simplistic in the analisis and its conclusion or based on assumptions that can never be applied to hedge funds, specialy his survivorship analysis. I have read about 10 books in hedge funds, I find this the least helpful.
Only focuses on risk of returns and leverage.......2001-06-18
Only focuses on one aspect: risk computations and leverage This book is certainly not a handbook on how to buy a hedge fund. It spends a great deal of time discussing how to disect a fund's returns mathematically. It does a good job of explaining in simple English what is wrong with using standard deviations of returns in trying to determine a fund's risk. Unfortunately, that is not all that one should consider in evaluating a fund. It does not go into detail about looking at other funds a manager may have been involved with, comparing that fund's returns to other funds in its class. It does not talk about understanding how hedge funds determine their fees, how to watch out for fraud, how to evaluate a fund's accountants and lawyers and the relative importance of these factors. It does not spend much time on discussing the risks involved due to the fact that most funds limit when one can put in or take out money or that a fund may force you to take some of your investment back. It also does not discuss tax treatment. Many funds' earnings are reportable as regular income. This may be important. The bottom line is that you can find out about risk and volatility from a stat book. It is the other behind the scenes unformation that is also critical in choosing a hedge fund.
BEWARE!.......2000-07-02
I am highly skeptical of the data behind most of this book. The figures seem consistently wrong. I doubt a single set of data could give the #s shown in both Table 4.2 & Chart 4.5. I find it funny that in Charts 7.1 & 7.2, 2 managers have tremendously different gross returns, but seemingly the exact same set of monthly returns. Funny again, in Charts 8.1 & 8.2, "Best" & "Random" managers seem to have the exact same results. Are the errors in proof-reading, concept, or facts?
Good book with a very narrow focus.......2000-05-18
This book will be useful for the money manager interested in choosing among the growing universe of hedge funds. Despite some overmethodical and occasionally dubious measurement techniques (much is made of the mysterious-sounding "d ratio", which is simply the ratio of winning months to losing months), Lavinio does provide some useful tools for evaluating the past performance and future prospects of different hedge funds.
The only disappointment is that Lavinio tends to treat hedge funds as mysterious black boxes, scrutinizing their results without any real attention to their methods. The lay reader will probably find little to satisfy his/her curiosity.
Book Description
This guide provides strategies for coping with volatile returns and profiting with this exciting new asset class. Specific topics include: Profiles of major funds; Historical performance of hedge funds; Hedge funds as a part of the institutional portfolio; Selecting a hedge fund manager; Legal, tax and accounting issues.
Customer Reviews:
An excellent resource, sure to slash your billable hours........1999-03-26
The list of books written on hedge funds is a short one, and this book is certainly the finest on the subject. The professionals who contributed their specialized knowledge are of the highest caliber, and better yet, many of them can be reached for counsel. Any investor with the capacity to invest at this level ought to know the mechanics of the various methodologies as clearly presented by the authors. I found all of the information to be useable and valuable information with absolutely no filler. Particularly of interest to me was all of the legal, tax and regulatory information which quite literally provided me with a blueprint from which I will begin building my (as GP) Private Investment Partnership. This book will eliminate countless hours with a securities attorney because now I know exactly how to direct the counsel.
Book Description
One of the most important recent developments in financial markets is the institutionalization of saving associated with the growth of pension funds, life insurance companies, and mutual funds. An increasing proportion of household saving is now managed by professional portfolio managers instead of being directly invested in the securities markets or held in the form of bank deposits. With the aging of the population and its adverse impact on public pension systems, the shift of individual savings to institutional investors is likely to become even more marked in the coming years.
This book provides a comprehensive economic assessment of institutional investment. It charts the development and performance of the asset management industry and analyzes the implications of rising institutionalized saving for the development of the securities trading industry, the financial sector as a whole, and the wider economy. The book draws extensively on international experience, particularly in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan.
Customer Reviews:
A Good Read!.......2004-03-02
This encyclopedic effort by two prominent financial scholars, E. Philip Davis and Dr. Benn Steil, leaves no stone unturned and virtually no question unanswered. The authors have managed to thread through the labyrinth of institutional investing, covering multitudes of regulatory, economic, practical and theoretical issues without ever losing their readers. Astonishingly well-organized and clearly written, this book is an outstanding reference. If it has a flaw, it may be that it is almost too vast to digest. And, of course, it is rapidly becoming dated. Having been published in 2001, it could not take into account the dramatic events and implications of the dot-com bubble and the wave of corporate scandals that raised such serious questions about the role and responsibility of institutional fiduciaries. Yet it does cover, with foresight, globalization and many other trends in the world of investment. We highly recommend this book for all the knowledge it conveys to corporate finance executives and investors at every level.
Institutional Investors is a Must Have!.......2001-06-27
Institutional Investors is a magnificently written text. The authors do a wonderful job describing issues facing institutional investors (US and globally) each day. They provide a thorough and detailed explanation and analysis of the institutional investment process, from asset management to trading, as well as provide commentary on the ever-changing structure of the financial industry. It is a must have for anyone wishing insight into the institutional investment process!
Average customer rating:
- Best Synopsis to Date on Rise of Fiduciary Capitalism
- An interesting book
|
The Rise of Fiduciary Capitalism: How Institutional Investors Can Make Corporate America More Democratic
James P. Hawley , and
Andrew T. Williams
Manufacturer: University of Pennsylvania Press
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A Demon of Our Own Design: Markets, Hedge Funds, and the Perils of Financial Innovation
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The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World
ASIN: 0812235630 |
Book Description
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the structure of corporate ownership is undergoing major change. The Rise of Fiduciary Capitalism chronicles the rise of fiduciary institutions--primarily public and private pension funds--which now own almost 50 percent of the equity of American corporations. In turn, approximately 50 percent of Americans either own stock individually or, more typically, have an ownership or retirement interest in these fiduciary institutions.
James P. Hawley and Andrew T. Williams argue that, because of their extensive diversification of ownership, fiduciary institutions have become "universal owners" with a significant stake in a broad cross-section of the largest publicly traded firms in the economy. Forced to evaluate portfolio-wide effects of individual firm actions, these institutions have a quasipublic policy interest in the long-term health and wellbeing of the whole society. As universal owners, fiduciary institutions are in a unique position to develop and pursue policies of virtuous efficiency, minimizing negative externalities and encouraging positive outcomes by the firms in their portfolios. In this way, they have the potential to make the firms in which they own stock more responsive to the needs of the Americans to whom they are responsible and thereby make those firms more democratic.
The Rise of Fiduciary Capitalism investigates the nature of property and ownership in the modern corporate setting, the effects of the decline of traditional, personally held property in equity form, and the governance implications of the developing new form of corporate ownership.
Customer Reviews:
Best Synopsis to Date on Rise of Fiduciary Capitalism.......2005-03-20
Many have chronicled the shift from owner-founders to managerial capitalism and on to fiduciary capitalism but Hawley and Williams are among the first to spend the majority of a book on the implications of fiduciary capitalism and where this recent development might lead. In 1945 corporate equity was valued at slightly less than $120 billion; more than 90% was owned by individuals and about 4% by institutions. The value of corporate equity has grown enormously to $7.8 trillion in 1998. While the share of individuals has fallen to 44%, the proportion owned by institutions has risen to 48%. State and local pension funds owned about 1% of outstanding corporate equity in 1969; by 1998 they owned more than 10%.
Ironically, although the Employment Retirement Income Security Act has been interpreted by the Department of Labor to require proxy voting by ERISA funds on behalf of beneficiaries, the authors point out that the Employment Retirement System Act (FERSA), established for federal employees, provides that voting rights are delegated to the administrator, appointed by the trustees. We don't trust our federal trustees to vote the shares of what is likely to become the world's largest institutional investor. Fortunately, other funds, such as the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), are not under the same restrictions and have become effective owners whose monitoring has added value.
Hawley and Williams review the record of corporate governance interventions. A few of their observations are as follows:
Board independence does matter for some tasks such as replacing poorly performing CEOs and not overpaying for acquisitions.
Visible and aggressive activism results in substantial increases to shareholder wealth but quieter activism doesn't yield the same results.
Binding bylaw amendments are potentially one of the most important new tools for institutional investors.
Tying director compensation closely to firm performance may have the unintended consequence of making the board more risk adverse and deferential to the CEO because, unlike the typical diversified shareholder, board members will be subject to the fortunes of one firm.
Hawley and Williams argue that many large funds have become "universal owners," since 1/3 of the assets of the 200 largest defined benefit funds are invested in indexed portfolios. As such, they should not only be concerned with monitoring individual firms but also with portfolio-wide effects. Universal owners will still need to pay attention to the alignment of manager and shareholder incentives but that won't be enough.
For example, the authors argue that universal owners have a responsibility, derived from the duty of care, to oppose policies that create negative externalities, like pollution, and support policies that produce positive externalities, such as corporate education and training programs. In contrast to single firms who may find it advantageous to throw off the costs of pollution to society, universal owners will suffer the costs of cleanup through deteriorating infrastructures, higher taxes and other costs to their other holdings.
At the same time, universal owners are able to capture nearly the full benefit of positive externalities, like corporate training programs, because even if trained employees subsequently leave the firm where training occurred, they are likely to find new employment with another universally owned firm. Since the size and breadth of universal owner portfolios expose them to economy-wide risks and rewards, their programs must increasingly be concerned with the long-term growth and economic efficiency of national and world economies.
Universal owners who want to maximize shareholder value will need to develop "public policy" positions to ensure a well-trained labor force, effective infrastructure, legal and regulatory environment, as well as monetary and fiscal policy. They want to ensure the corporate environment encourages efficiency and doesn't externalize costs.
The authors provide several examples of such public policy activities, most of which appear to be drawn from CalPERS. These include:
policy guidelines on issues such as the environment;
surveys of firms on particular policies, such as high-performance workplace issues;
monitoring the lobbying efforts to ensure one firm doesn't put others at a competitive disadvantage;
grading portfolios on particular issues, such as adherence to corporate governance guidelines;
targeting firms on specific issues, such as the controversy surrounding logging ancient forests or producing defective products.
They envision that institutional investors will develop areas of expertise and "coat tail" off each other to create a more efficient division of labor.
Of course any volume on the cutting edge is bound to raise as many questions as it resolves and The Rise of Fiduciary Capitalism is no exception. Their troubling conclusion discusses the problem of who will watch the watchers. While a growing professionalism at corporate boards and institutional investors may prevent the most egregious abuses, the authors believe that trustees holding tremendous power and wealth may soon face a tremendous backlash from the public if such power is perceived as being abused.
They end with a series of unanswered questions concerning the growing concentration of wealth in the hands of a relative few professional owners. Who will monitor the monitors? Government? The market? How do we protect beneficiaries from institutional abuse? Is fiduciary duty enough to assure appropriate behavior?
These are important issues that we are likely to grapple with for the foreseeable future. While government certainly has a role in monitoring the monitors, it is too often a captive of the very interests it is monitoring. As for the market, it doesn't respect ecological and other needs ignored by current pricing structures.
While some, like myself, believe the impetus to act as universal owners will probably come from the ultimate beneficiaries, Hawley and Williams have their doubts. They see beneficiaries rising up and demanding more input as unlikely, since beneficiaries are "even more diffuse, disinterested, and disenfranchised" than the traditional Berle-Means shareholder. "Thus it is unlikely that beneficiaries as a group will ever be able to effectively `watch' the fiduciary institutions." Our "best hope for effective monitoring is transparency coupled with competition between the institutions."
Visionaries, such as Robert Monks and Mark Latham, have proposed a heightened role for proxy monitoring firms to monitor and provide guidance to the management of portfolio firms. Maybe the rise of such institutions will provide the competitive core that Hawley and Williams see as the best hope for effective monitoring.
My own assessment is that such new institutions will play an important role but that we also need to rebuild our fiduciary institutions so they are more democratic.
CalPERS provides an excellent model of an institution that legitimates the enormous power of its fiduciaries by holding them accountable to members and stakeholders. Six of its 13 board members are nominated and elected directly by its members and beneficiaries. Four others serve as ex officio members based on their position as State Treasurer, Controller, Director of the Department of Personnel Administration and a designee of the State Personnel Board (SPB). Two members are appointed by the Governor, an elected official of a contracting public agency and an official of a life insurer. One is appointed jointly by the Speaker of the Assembly and the Senate Rules Committee.
CalPERS is far from perfect in providing mechanisms to let its members hold the board accountable - incumbents have several advantages over challengers, such as use of CalPERS funds for traveling to meet constituents while campaigning, and members have no initiative or referendum process. However, it is far more democratic and participatory than most institutional investors...and more successful. While many large institutional investors have become universal owners, CalPERS is one of the few to begin to look at the larger policy issues that Hawley and Williams argue will make corporations more democratic.
The Rise of Fiduciary Capitalism provides the best synopsis to date of how fiduciary capitalism developed but less of a guide concerning the difficult subject of "how institutional investors can make corporate America more democratic" than its title might imply. Still, the book is important as one of the first to recognize that fiduciaries, acting on behalf of universal owners, have a duty of care that extends to influencing public policies in order to generate both wealth and a healthy environment. Wide circulation of The Rise of Fiduciary Capitalism could accelerate that recognition and the ultimate shift towards more democratic corporations.
An interesting book.......2003-07-15
This is an interesting book for anyone interested in modern, market and investor driven corporate governance solutions. The strength of the book is the analysis of the classical finance model of corporate governance (Bearle & Means) from an institutional - fiduciary - owners' perspective. For the most part it is an easily accessible book that is useful for anyone in the investment field.
Customer Reviews:
Amazingly Informative!.......1998-08-24
In his book, Mr. Ira Kawaller covers an amazing range of topics from risk managemant to stock options. I have never read a book so incredibly exciting in all of my life. Mr. Kawaller knows how to display the facts, provide informative facts, and decorate it all with a wit and charm that thrives in his book. "Financial Futures and Options" is THE book for risk management lovers everywhere. This book inspired me to change my career choices. After reading "Futures" (in one sitting!) I knew that prostitution and drug dealing was just not for me. I am now an economist making over $600,000 a year and loving it. Thank you, Mr. Kawaller. You turned my life around. (From what everyone is saying, I believe Mr. Kawaller now runs his own business called Kawaller & Company in Brooklyn, NY. If you ever need help financially, Mr. Kawaller will personally see to it that you get back on track. After all, risk can be managed if it is faced in a disciplined way. Ignore it and you face disaster. E-mail Kawaller and Company at kawaller@idt.net and good luck!)
Product Description
How institutional investors and corporations can profit from the most powerful financial market of the nineties. Selected articles from Derivatives Strategy.
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