Case Name :      Connor, Clark & Lunn

Authors :           Chuck Grace

Source :             Ivey Publishing

Case ID :            W12508

Discipline :        Finance

Case Length :    12 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

At the end of 2001, the senior partners of an investment management firm were concerned. The bear market was going on two years, and, worse, the firm’s performance over that time had been less than that of the index. Clients, more than disappointed, were starting to vote with their feet. The firm, a top-10 player in Canada’s institutional investment business, had claimed client assets under management of more than $15 billion in 1998, but was now under serious threat. Without some change in the fortunes of the business, a continued loss of revenue would endanger its viability.<br><br>In the previous few years, the two senior partners had been working behind the scenes on an idea that they thought could return the business to success. The hitch was that the idea involved a radical transformation of the firm. While the senior partners had seen some success with the small steps they had taken with this new business model, they needed to ask their partners to commit to a still largely unproven strategy – a business model that not only had no known comparable model but that also ran contrary to contemporary views of how an asset management firm should be structured. Would their partners commit to the unproven plan?