How does market share affect the increase in the value of investment unit of voluntary pension funds?

Abstract

The importance of this research stems from highly concentrated markets of voluntary pension funds, on the one hand, and intensive competition pressure among market participants, on the other. The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the static and dynamic relationship between a pension fund's market share and value of its investment unit. The research was designed to monitor the changes in the size of market share and investment units in the period from 2008 to 2017 in the funds in the Republic of Serbia. The main findings suggest that the size of market share of individual voluntary pension funds has no influence on the growth of investment unit value. Contrary to the static approach, the dynamic approach argues that the changes of market share affect the performance of voluntary pension funds. The obtained results indicate that the performances of individual pension funds do not depend on their size, but rather on their ability to occupy a larger portion of the market and increase their market share. This paper provides a systematic review of the relevant empirical literature on internal and external determinants of a pension fund's performance. It represents a significant contribution to the understanding of market factors, such as market share and value of investment units.