Investing November 27, 2002

MSCI Reports Final October Hedge Fund Figures

November 27, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Hedge Fund Composite Index rose 1.27% year-to-date, after an October increase of 0.07%.
Reported by

The MSCI Hedge Fund Composite Index is composed of five equally weighted process group indices:  the Directional Trading, Relative Value, Security Selection, Specialist Credit and Multi-Process indices. 

The best-performing index so far in the year, the MSCI Direction Trading, was down -2.16% in October, but remains up 8.73% year-to-date.  Conversely, the worst year-to-date performer, the MSCI Security Selection Index, was up 0.88% in October, with year-to-date return now at -2.98%.

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October also saw gains made in the MSCI Relative Value Index, up 0.19% and the MSCI Specialist Credit, up 0.11%.  Year-to-date the funds are up 4.66% and 0.53%, respectively.

Additionally, the Multi-Process Group Index was also up in October with a 0.62% gain, but is down year-to-date -1.77%. 

Other MSCI indices had mixed results in October.  The MSCI World Equity Index was up 7.28% for the month, but down year-to-date -21.09%.  The MSCI World Sovereign Debt Index declined in October -0.39%, but is up year-to-date 13.75%.

Final October numbers for the Hedge Fund Composite Index declined slightly, to a gain of 0.07%, from the    November 13 mid-month estimates  of a 0.20% gain.

Benefits November 26, 2002

Companies Failing In Strategic Communication

November 26, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Seventy-three percent of HR professionals believe their company has clearly stated its strategic direction, but only 44% feel the strategic direction was communicated well to employees.
Reported by

Fifty-three percent of those surveyed believed senior HR management was involved in developing the strategic direction. A smaller group (47%) felt it participated in the review of the strategic plan, according to The Society of Human Resources Management’s (SHRM) “2002 Aligning HR With Organization Strategy Survey.”

SHRM says the results show HR professionals need to be more involved in developing and implementing a company’s strategic direction.

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The survey, an examination of how HR aligns with the organizational strategy, had 1,310 responses from HR professionals and asked questions regarding strategic direction, strategic planning, evaluation of strategy, budgeting and the linkage of goals and incentive compensation.  

Not surprisingly, 89% of HR professionals feel overall senior executive management best understands a company’s strategic direction, with 66% believing middle management also understood.

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