Governance, Scale, and Boutique Resilience in a Consolidating Hedge Fund Industry
研究对冲基金行业整合中，精品管理公司（管理资产2亿至10亿美元）如何通过治理架构、规模与策略互动保持韧性，发现业绩取决于策略而非单纯规模，为投资者提供评估基金的新视角。
The hedge fund industry has undergone significant consolidation, with capital increasingly concentrated among large multi-strategy platforms. Yet boutique managers, defined as firms with $200 million to $1 billion in assets under management, have exhibited notable resilience. This article examines how governance architecture, organizational scale, and strategy capacity interact to shape competitive outcomes in a consolidating industry. I analyze the structural advantages of large platforms, including regulatory infrastructure, distribution networks, and technological scale, alongside the distinctive governance features of boutiques, such as concentrated ownership, incentive alignment, and strategic specialization. The evidence suggests that performance dynamics are strategy dependent rather than purely size dependent: Boutiques tend to outperform in capacity-constrained strategies, whereas larger firms benefit from economies of scale in liquid markets and systematic strategies. I argue that optimal fund size exists along a strategy-specific continuum and that effective allocator decision-making requires evaluating governance structures, operational resilience, and capacity discipline rather than relying on asset size alone.