The Mutual Fund Business [Paperback]

Robert C. Pozen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 5, 1998

In the last decade, the number of mutual funds has tripled to more than 6,000 funds with more than $4 trillion in assets and more than 60 million individual shareholders. Yet there is no book on the mutual fund business designed for MBA and undergraduate business courses. The Mutual Fund Business, assembled by a leading industry expert, fills this gap.

The book is divided into four parts. Part I contains a general introduction to mutual funds, a short history of the industry, and an overview of mutual fund regulation. Part II covers portfolio management of stock funds and bond funds, as well as execution of fund trades. Part III discusses the marketing and servicing of mutual funds in the direct, intermediary, and retirement channels. Finally, Part IV delves into more specialized topics: the financial dynamics of mutual funds, mutual funds as institutional investors, the role of technology in mutual fund complexes, and the internationalization of mutual funds.

Each chapter contains not only a lengthy introduction and selected articles, but also a detailed case study or class exercise. An extensive teacher's manual, with a complete set of lecture notes, slides (on diskette) to support the lectures, answers to the review questions for each chapter, and an analysis of each case study is available for instructors who adopt the book.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Surprisingly, until now there has not been a comprehensive text on the business end of the $5-trillion mutual fund industry. This massive tome figuratively and literally fills the void. It will almost certainly become must reading for budding mutual fund managers and entrepreneurs... for those in the industry, it is cheap compared with a course at Harvard B-school." -- Mutual Funds, October 1998

From the Author

"I am proud of this new book, which is a true teaching textbook that also can be easily read and understood by serious investors. From portfolio manager strategies to fund performance measures to servicing fund shareholders, this is a comprehensive introduction to mutual funds." --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 744 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (June 5, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262661411
• ISBN-13: 978-0262661416
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,774,747 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Pozen is Chairman Emeritus of MFS Investment Management, the oldest mutual fund company in the United States, and a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School. He previously was Vice-Chair of Fidelity Investments. He has published numerous articles in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the London Financial Times. He has served in senior positions at public entities such as the SEC and the State of Massachusetts. He was a member of the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security, and Chairman of the SEC's Advisory Committee on Financial reporting.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pozen's 2nd edition (blue cover) is best mutual fund book, November 1, 2002

By 

samuel wylie (Hanover, New Hampshire, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mutual Fund Business (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

The great thing about Pozen's book is that it clarifies a lot of difficult subjects in the mutual fund area. The book is comprehensive but it is especially good on thoroughly demystifying:
(1) The different channels of distribution of mutual funds (direct, captured brokerage, independent brokerage, investment advisors, 401-k, etc.)
(2) The different service providers for each mutual fund (investment advisor, transfer agent, underwriter, distributors, accountant, etc.)
(3) The different types of mutual funds (investment styles, classes A, B, C, R, I,etc., fee structures -- 12b-1, fund end, back end, etc.)
(4) The structure and operation of mutual fund complexes
(5) The structure of the whole industry (incentives of different players, valuation of mutual fund complexes, etc.)
(6) Regulation and taxation.

These subjects are opaque to even long term observers of the mutual fund industry. But Pozen is uniquely positioned to write a clarifying book like this because he is a Phd in Economics, a career finance industry lawyer and the ex-head of Fidelity.

Pozen's book is the best so far on mutual funds. Its only close rival is Lee Gremillion's excellent book 'A Purely American Invention', but read Pozen's book first. Pozen's writing is clear, thought provoking and covers all facets of mutual funds as products and as an industry.

I am a Finance Professor at Dartmouth College and I teach and research mutual funds. I unreservedly commend this second edition of Pozen's book to anyone who wants a deep understanding of the mutual fund industry.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Cut and Paste effort, August 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mutual Fund Business (Paperback)

It's unfortunate that there aren't very many titles available on the specifics of the mutual funds industry. This book is the one-eyed man in the land of the blind... if someone writes an alternative, this book will move to the dustbin. It is nothing but a cut and paste effort. Less than 10% of the content came from Pozen's word processor; the remainder was constructed with a Xerox machine and an exacto knife. And it is priced like an expensive textbook. A reader who is interested in this industry would be better off with an internet search engine and a few copies of Kiplinger's Mutual Funds magazine.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introductory Textbook, June 26, 2002

By 

dsnj "dsnj" (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mutual Fund Business (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

Bob Pozen's book is a carefully written introduction to the mutual fund industry. The book is particularly helpful in understanding the institutional aspect of the industry. The cases are an invaluable source for in-class discussion.