Quantitative performance measurement was resisted by investment managers it threatened

Evidence

The idea of systematic evaluation of investment performance by using the Capital Asset Pricing Model was slow to take off. At first O’Brien could find only one client: the investment committee of the Aerospace Corporation, made up as it was of quantitatively minded “rocket scientists” (O’Brien interview). Another firm that began to offer a similar service, Becker Securities, even suspected that some of its former investment manager clients were diverting business away from it in retaliation for its move into performance measurement (Welles 1977, p. 41). — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 363

Categorization

• XREF: Shows the performativity/counter-performativity dynamic at a micro level: finance theory adoption was resisted by those whose interests it hurt, prefiguring the book’s broader actor-networks theme. — connects to: Software performance measurement changed manager behavior even without their understanding CAPM — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 1137

Broader Connections

• Software performance measurement changed manager behavior even without their understanding CAPM #expands (0.80) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 1137