Late Summer Beach Reading: August 21 – September 11

Hi Everybody. I’m outta here until the week of September 7th. That’s awesome for me. But I know what you’re thinking . . . “Great, now what am I going to do when I can’t sleep and need something you’ve written to overcome my insomnia?” Fair enough. With that in mind, I’m re-sharing the five long-form academic papers (i.e., working papers) I’ve published since June on SSRN. They’ll do the trick. :)

- Sleep Aid I: I published a paper with the Chief Investment Officer of APG Eduard Van Gelderen entitled, “Knowledge Management in Asset Management." In the paper, we argue that knowledge assets and the use of superior knowledge are crucial to the success of all asset managers and, in particular, active managers. However, very little is known about knowledge management in asset management, which is why we wrote the paper.

- Sleep Aid II: My Stanford colleague Rajiv Sharma and I published another paper in our re-intermediation series entitled, “Capitalising on Institutional Co-Investment Platforms." This paper identifies and analyses examples of new collaborative investment vehicles being employed by institutional investors to access private market assets.

- Sleep Aid III: I co-authored a paper with Sarah Kearney, Alicia Seiger and Elliott Donnelley entitled, “Energizing The US Resource Innovation Ecosystem: The Case for an Aligned Intermediary to Accelerate GHG Emissions Reduction." The paper makes the point that there are no shortages of breakthrough technologies being developed in universities, national labs and garages that could be as transformative today as the steam turbine in the 19th century or the solar cell in the 20th. What there is a shortage of, however, is patient, early-stage capital to support the transformation of these projects into lasting, profitable companies. The purpose of this document is to propose a uniquely aligned financial services organization whose mission would be to specifically help Giants identify, screen, assess and invest in high-potential companies that are producing the most impactful, and indeed profitable, solutions to climate change.

- Sleep Aid IV:Rajiv Sharma and I had another paper this summer entitled, “Re-Intermediating Investment Management." This paper examines the sub-optimal access points and governance structures that tend to intermediate institutional investors from the private assets. We go on to suggest that Giants may want to re-intermediate their investments in alternative asset classes and work with more aligned, external agents.

- Sleep Aid V:Gordon Clark and I took a friendly shot at the consultants with a new paper entitled, “The Contested Role of Investment Consultants: Ambiguity, Contract, and Innovation in Financial Institutions." This paper focuses on the relationship between investment consultants and clients and suggests there is a lack of clarity as to the precise roles and responsibilities of both parties.

Those should keep you well rested! See you in September!