A study of the effectiveness of Worldwide Equity Benchmark Shares (WEBS) in international equity portfolio management as implemented by institutional investors

The problem. This study's purpose was to determine what factors influenced institutional investment portfolio managers to use Worldwide Equity Benchmark Shares (WEBS) to maximize rates of return in international investments.;Method. A student's t test and correlation studies were conducted from data collected by objective means through a questionnaire survey instrument from 35 institutional investment managers with an excess of ;Results. The 3rd hypothesis, which predicted a relationship between the firms' Target Rate of Return and the Influence of Political Risk in decision-making, was supported. The student's t test was statistically significant at the .05 level of confidence. Hypothesis 7, which predicted numerous significant and relevant relationships among the variables was supported at the .05 level of statistical significance. Results supported the premise that WEBS are a useful investment alternative. However, since WEBS are an international investment, they are susceptible to political and exchange rate risk. WEBS maybe employed by international equity managers as part of several different strategies, including short- and long-term investments. Decisions to use WEBS are affected by changes in the underlying MSCI Index of each country.;Additional statistically significant findings regarding the disadvantages of the WEBS investment included cost, trading error, and selection of alternative investments, which include individual international equities, American Depository Receipts (ADRs), and mutual funds.;Data collected from the questionnaire indicated that investment managers chose the types of investments to use based on professional literature, consultants, and publications, rather than on independent research or proprietary information.;WEBS are a relatively new investment first marketed in 1996. As of fall of 2004, the number of WEBS indexes had increased from 17 to 23. The effectiveness of WEBS in international equity portfolio management was determined to be based on the investment strategy and the target rate of return of the firm relative to the inherent variables of international investing.