COURSE
NUMBER: MBA236B.1
COURSE
TITLE: Investment Strategies and Styles
INSTRUCTORS:
Robert G. O’Donnell & Ted Janus.
EMAIL: rgo1@comcast.net, tedjanus@gmail.com.
PREREQUISITE:
MBA 203 or equivalent.
REQUIRED
READINGS: Course Reader containing selections of articles by various investors.
Sections from Thinking Fast and Slow by
Daniel Kahneman and The Winner’s Curse by Richard Thaler.
BASIS FOR
FINAL GRADE: Papers, Case Study, and Class Discussion.
ABSTRACT OF
COURSE CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES: There are
as many investment strategies as there are investors. This course will be
conducted primarily as a seminar to understand and critique the strategies of
several prominent investors including Warren Buffett, George Soros, Ray Dalio, David Swensen, and several
others. The premise of the course is that while the perfect investment strategy
does not exist, one can nevertheless improve their investment success by
understanding the strengths and weaknesses of different strategies. While the
course will focus primarily on the challenges of investing large pools of
institutional assets, there is considerable application to individual
investing. The course will examine public equity, fixed income, private equity,
and hedge funds. Guest speakers from several investment firms will discuss
their approaches. Students will prepare a case study of the endowment of Yale University.
They will also form groups to construct both a fixed income and equity sector
portfolio. Risk mitigation will be addressed including an attempt to understand
what we mean when we use the term “risk.” The seminar should be of interest to
students considering a career in the investment field, but is also designed to
appeal to those interested in the nexus between investment theory and practice.
CAREER
FIELD: Finance and Investment Management.
BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCH: Bob recently retired after 39 years as a portfolio manager with Capital
Group (American Funds), where he managed $20 billion of mutual fund assets. He
is a CFA and CPA with a BS and MBA from UCBerkeley
and is a 2016 candidate for an MLA degree at Stanford University. Ted Janus,
principal at J Capital, invests in private and public equities in both the
financial services and consumer sectors. He also invests in private equity
funds and hedge funds. Ted is a CFA and holds a BA in Political Science and an
MBA from UC Berkeley.