The investment alternatives offered by mutual funds have had
a significant effect on the savings patterns of many countries. Industry
research has primarily focused on the funds themselves rather than on their
management companies, but like other financial institutions, these companies,
also known as mutual fund families, have experienced great periods of both
expansion and contraction. It is important to address the efficiency of these
institutions, as well.
Carlos Sánchez González fills this gap in our knowledge with
this empirical study. He develops an innovative model that considers the
management stages of mutual fund companies, overcoming the traditional dispute
between the different approaches used in banking and insurance research. Using
data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate efficiency levels, Sánchez González
investigates the Spanish case, one of the most relevant industries in the Euro
market, in order to provide insights into issues that have never been explored
before.


His study consists of two parts. The first explains the
basic concepts, offers a brief explanation of the basic DEA models, and gives a
review of the most important applications to financial institutions, all while
developing a unique set of industry-specific variables in order to show how to apply
the original slacks-based measure (SBM) approach. The second reviews the major
concepts of SBM variations and shows how they can be applied to the Spanish
mutual fund family industry in order to obtain unprecedentedly accurate empirical
measures of its efficiency.


This ground-breaking work offers much food for thought to
academic researchers and postgraduate students of management, finance, and
marketing.