The performance synergies between science and engineering and business management backgrounds of managers in high-tech mutual funds: Evidence from Taiwan

This study tries to investigate the performance of specific stylized mutual funds focusing on the matched professional abilities of fund managers, based upon their relative educational backgrounds. Using a 2001-2011 dataset on 1164 fund managers investing in the Taiwan Stock Exchange comprising mainly of high-tech stocks, our findings suggest that mutual fund managers with joint science and engineering (SE) and business management (BM) backgrounds perform significantly better than fund managers only with business management (BM) background when managing high-tech funds. These results also provide support for the notion that the proliferation of joint degree programs across the associated fields lends credence to the belief that synergies exist between the backgrounds in the stylized mutual funds with professional's educational background of fund manager matching with stock targets.