6 pages

Dedicated  research  report  

Choose  one  of  the  areas  in  mutual  fund  industry  and  conduct  a  short  synopsis  on  the  

topic.    

 

1. [Structured  asset  in  China]  How  should  you  value  the  structured  fund?  How  are  A-­‐

shares  and  B-­‐shares  valued?  Take  an  example  and  show  how  the  valuation  is  done  

and  check  out  the  data  to  see  if  your  valuation  differs  from  what  is  happening  

empirically.  

2. [Careers  for  fund  managers]  How  do  the  fund  managers  get  their  jobs?  Track  the  

career  for  the  fund  manager  of  your  interest  and  detail  how  he/she  gets  there.  

Please  also  include  an  evaluation  of  how  he/she  does  in  his/her  career.  

3.  [Structured  asset  in  China]  Collect  a  comprehensive  sample  of  structured  asset  in  

China  and  try  to  categorize  the  funds.  

4. [Portfolio  methods  in  action:  return  gap]  Choose  a  fund  of  your  interest.  Perform  the  

evaluation  analysis  that  you  learn  in  the  class.  Also,  check  out  its  portfolio  holdings  to  

see  if  their  proposed  strategy  fits  the  words  of  their  mouth.  Check  out  the  portfolio  

holdings  to  see  if  the  fund  generates  positive  return  gaps.  (The  analysis  should  run  

for  multiple  periods.)  

5. [Index  funds  in  China]  Choose  an  index  fund  of  your  interest.  Perform  the  evaluation  

analysis  that  you  learn  in  the  class.  Does  past  performance  predict  future  

performance  for  the  fund?  (You  could  easily  replicate  the  study  for  many  different  

funds.  Try  that  for  extra  credits)  

6. [Interviews]  Choose  a  fund  of  your  interest.  For  this  report  to  work,  you  should  try  to  

find  a  star  manager  that  frequently  is  interviewed.  Perform  the  evaluation  analysis  

that  you  learn  in  the  class.  Also,  look  for  interviews  of  the  fund  manager  and  see  if  

his/her  portfolio  fits  what  he/she  says  in  the  magazines/video  clips.  (Hint:  Some  fund  

companies  frequently  report  the  interviews  on  their  websites.)  

 

Your  reports  should  consist  of  the  following  components:  

0. Summary:  You  need  to  be  able  to  summarize  your  findings  in  less  than  100  words.  

1. Text:  Detailing  what  you  find  

2. Discussion:  What  else  could  be  done  if  given  more  time  and  more  data?  I  know  this  

list  could  go  endlessly  even  for  great  articles,  but  please  try  to  point  out  at  least.  

3. References:  List  sources  of  your  ideas/sentences/data  

 

Grading  guidelines:  

I  look  for  evidence  of  efforts  and  originality.  Careful  presentation  of  data  and  

professional  writing  will  guarantee  a  decent  grade.  When  you  lay  out  an  argument,  

try  to  persuade  in  a  reasonable  and  economic  way.  

Support  every  view  with  a  fact.  Don’t  throw  in  something  that  people  say  as  given.  It  

is  possible  to  obtain  a  very  high  grade  on  this  part  (90+),  but  you  will  need  to  make  a  

great  report.  

Good  report  =  creative  idea  +  careful  collection  of  data  +  convincing  analysis  +  a  

good  understanding  on  what  else  can  be  done.  

 

Please  upload  the  report  along  with  all  the  data  needed  for  your  report  in  a  ZIP  file.  

You  need  to  submit  your  report  in  the  word  (even  better,  PDF)  format.  The  

document  itself  should  be  no  longer  than  4  pages  single-­‐spaced  (excluding  tables,  

figures,  graphs  and  any  supporting  materials).