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abstract: This study investigates the impact of portfolio disclosure on hedge fund performance. Using a regression discontinuity design, I investigate the effect of the disclosure requirements that take effect when an investment company's assets exceed $100 million; when that occurs, a fund is required by the SEC to submit form 13F disclosing its portfolio holdings. Consistent with the argument that portfolio disclosure reveals "trade secrets" and also raises front running costs thus harms the funds that disclose, I find that there is a drop in fund performance (about 4% annually) after a fund begins filing form 13F, as well as an increase in return correlations with other hedge funds in the same investment style. The drop in performance cannot be explained by a change in the assets under management or a mean reversion in returns. Consistent with the idea that funds with illiquid holdings tend to employ sequential trading strategies, which increase the likelihood of being taken advantage of by free riders and front runners, the drop in performance is more dramatic for funds that have more illiquid holdings. In addition, I find that the incentive fees paid to fund managers are 1% higher when portfolio disclosure is required, which supports the hypothesis that investors' monitoring of portfolio holdings disciplines adverse risk-taking by fund managers and allows for higher convexity in the optimal compensation structure. Finally, there is a drop in flows into funds that file 13F, which suggests that hedge fund investors negatively value 13F disclosure. Overall, this study suggests that the cost of portfolio disclosure is economically large. It contributes to the policy debate over what constitutes optimal disclosure. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Business Administration 2011

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Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University

The culture of an organization constitutes the environment into which information systems (IS) practices take place. Despite the importance of culture in the organizational theory and management literature, this topic has received little attention in the IS area. The culture of an organization can be looked at from different angles. In addition to the usual view of culture, the integration view, two other perspectives have been identified in the literature: the differentiation and fragmentation perspectives. While the integration perspective focuses on the "assembling" role organizational culture is normally said to play, the differentiation perspective highlights important differences among groups of people in the organization and the fragmentation perspective includes the notion of ambiguity and uncertainty in the conceptualization of culture. This study uses organizational stories as a way to investigate the culture of an organization and as a way to better understand IS practices. It uses simultaneously the three organizational culture perspectives in order to get a broad picture of the cultural context surrounding IS practices. More specifically, the objective of this interpretive study is to investigate three research questions related to (1) the nature of the stories told and the themes that they carry, (2) the functions that these stories play in the organization, and (3) the relationships between themes and IS practices. Using an in-depth case study strategy, stories and their interpretations were collected from a software-development company using primarily semi-structured interviews. The results emphasize the bias resulting from the use of the integration perspective as the only way to look at the culture of an organization. This bias had a profound impact on the literature; it helped shape the identification of important organizational actors, the definition of stories, and the conceptualization of their functions. In this study, a broader conception of "significant stories" is given along with a broader range of functions that stories may fulfill. Finally, the results highlight the importance of cultural elements in understanding the general context surrounding IS practices and explore in more detail two very contemporary IS activities: implementing team reorganization (change) and managing outsourcing relationships.

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Comparisons between experienced and inexperienced auditors have indicated that differences in knowledge which interact with the environment result in performance differences (Frederick and Libby 1986; Libby and Luft forthcoming). Experienced auditors' recognition of and reaction to variations in relevant conditioning information for inherent risk assessments have important implications for the efficiency and effectiveness of an audit. In addition, previous research concerning subjective probability has indicated that, contrary to the theory's requirements, actual individuals have imprecise degrees of belief (Ellsberg 1961; Gardenfors and Sahlin 1982). This impression in degree of belief results in individuals having second-order uncertainty about first-order probability assessments. This study extends previous research by providing evidence concerning a knowledge effect in the inherent risk assessment task, by considering the effect of the inferability of the conditioning information and by providing exploratory evidence concerning the relationship of first- to second-order uncertainty. Second-order uncertainty, in this context, is an auditor's uncertainty about a first-order inherent risk assessment. Inferability is a dimension of audit evidence which depends on auditors' internal knowledge structures. Their knowledge enables them to infer alternative values from other information to replace values that would be inferred from conditioning information that is unavailable in the current audit evidence set. The current experiment involved responses of 210 experienced and inexperienced auditors from KPMG Peat Marwick who assessed the inherent risk of a continuing manufacturing client. Subjects were assigned to the experienced group if they had experience with five or more inherent risk assessments. Inexperienced subjects had no experience. The data were analyzed as a 2x3 analysis of covariance. The between-subject independent variables were experience and inferable conditioning information. The dependent variable was second-order uncertainty. Inherent risk assessment was a significant covariate. The results indicate that when inferable conditioning information was relatively complete, experienced auditors had significantly lower second-order uncertainty than inexperienced auditors. The interaction of inferability of conditioning information and experience was marginally significant. However, the first-order inherent risk assessments indicate that experienced auditors have higher assessments when second-order uncertainty is low.

Prior research in the diffusion of innovations literature has focused on the eventual consumer of primarily utilitarian products, such as consumer durables and "high tech" products. This research focuses on a less-explored area of diffusion: diffusion channel intermediaries for primarily aesthetic products, such as art and music. Data were collected in the form of depth interviews with intermediaries in two aesthetic product categories, art photography and jazz. Interview data were supplemented with observations of the intermediaries in situ, as well as by ancillary documentation produced by and about the intermediaries. Employing a grounded theory methodology, these data formed the basis of a theory which suggests two distinct aesthetic intermediary types, and which constitutes two alternative diffusion paths. One intermediary type, labeled the Separable-oriented (Separable Conceptualization-Oriented Intermediary), conceptualizes innovations as occurring in singular products. The other intermediary type, labeled Connected-oriented (Connected Conceptualization-Oriented Intermediary), conceptualizes innovation as occurring in larger bodies of work, these bodies connected by the intention of the producer and/or the process used to create the product. These two intermediary types are further differentiated by the activities they pursue in their intermediary role, by the channel entities with whom they communicate, and by the categories they employ in their evaluation of the innovative product. Separable-orienteds are shown to pursue activities which commodify the aesthetic product, provide variety to their constituents, and enhance the entertainment value of the product for their constituents; they communicate with commercial entities and the general public; and they consider issues of divisibility and complexity when evaluating aesthetic product for possible facilitation. Connected-orienteds, on the other hand, are shown to pursue activities which decommodify the aesthetic product, provide themes for integration of the individual aesthetic products, and enhance the educational value of the product for their constituents; they communicate more readily with the artist than with commercial entities, and define their constituency less broadly than Separable-orienteds; and they consider issues of the product's complexity beyond a given threshold, and the product's potential to proliferate beyond its current incarnation when evaluating it for possible facilitation.

Nova College, the undergraduate center of Nova University, was faced with the need to make additional organizational and structural changes in order to meet mandated requirements of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as well as to accommodate increasing student enrollment and growing competition from a large public university. This study was concerned with the changes made in the Business Programs and Career Division of Nova College. An assessment was done to determine the areas most in need of change. This led to developing and implementing institutional priorities through a system of managerial objectives. Several research questions were asked in the process of investigating the problem: 1) Was there a need to make internal structural changes and was there an awareness of this need? 2) Could the perceived problems be diagnosed and corrected in reasonable time? 3) Was there an effective operating framework and could one be developed if needed? 4) Did mission statement and goals exist for the College and could these be further developed if needed? 5) Was the current organizational structure meeting the institution's goals and could the structure be altered if needed? 6) Were the necessary skills for managing an academic division defined and could they be be defined? The central thesis was that the specific strategic approach of developing and implementing a system of management objectives would establish institutional priorities for Nova College thereby leading to a more effective use of resources. The methodology used in this research project was a case study presented with historical descriptions. Four management models were used to assess, evaluate and diagnose the current situation. The goals which existed at the beginning of the project were compared to the new system of institutional priorities implemented by the conclusion of the project. The conclusions or results of this research project demonstrated that the central thesis was valid: the operation, administration and management of an academic unit can benefit from the adoption of clearly defined managerial objectives. More spec ~ fically th~ findings showed that: 1 ) A need did exist to make internal structural changes in the Career Division and Business Programs at Nova College and key personnel were aware of the need. The redesign of the organ ization is consistent with and supportive of the mission and goals of the College. 2 ) Some of the problems which existed were resolved through the creation of a new organizational framework and the development of a series of systematic operational procedures for both the Career Division and the Business Programs. 3) No mission statement existed at Nova College. Therefore, one was developed which became the first step in the process of developing and implementing institutional priorities and goals. 4) The skills necessary to manage the Business Programs had not been defined. A skills inventory was developed using as resources those writings which had addressed the issue of managerial competencies such as the AMA Masters Program and the McBer Report about leadership of non-traditional college programs. Finally, a combination of management skills and concepts were applied in seeking a solution to the problem. The most easily identified was management by objectives (MBO), but the author also employed the analysis of the critical contributing factors, an adaption of systems management techniques, an assessment of structure and strategy, and the major components of an organization development intervention model. Further continuing research and adaptation will be necessary to achieve all of the goals for Nova College set forth in this paper.