as a quantitative manager that relies on purely objective data or a bottom-up manager that relies solely on its own research, he or she should be able to provide excellent corporate management references. As always, one must be cognizant of the biases imbedded in these views. Sell-side analysts may want to direct new business to their largest client, and corporate management may have similar interests in mind; for example, they may be quite favorable if a manager own a large stake in their business. QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS___________________________ Most asset managers include quantitative modeling in their research-whether as the backbone of the process (as for quantitative strategies) or as a crucial decisionmaking input (as in traditional fundamental approaches). In either case, the quantitative analysis provides a systematic framework for evaluating investment opportunities on both a stand-alone and a comparative basis. A best-practices approach to manager selection involves the development of a comprehensive quantitative package that is produced for each manager involved in the investment process. Such a package provides an in-depth view of the manager from two key perspectives: a point-in-time (current) snapshot and, crucially, a historical overview. When a manager is selected to participate in a search, the RFP package should include a request for monthly returns since inception and, importantly, full monthly holdings since inception. This information is thoroughly analyzed through multiple risk and style analysis systems. A thorough quantitative package is four-dimensional in nature: It looks at managers on both a stand-alone and a comparative basis, and it looks at managers during the current snapshot and over the longer course of history. Along these dimensions, the following characteristics should be examined: II Returns-based attribution, not only by sector, but also by style, such as, in the case of equities, market cap, price-earnings (P/E) ratio, dividend yield, price-book (P/B) ratio, and earnings growth category. II Factor attribution of returns, including security selection, factor exposures, beta exposures, and sector exposures. 11 Factor attribution of risk, including security selection, factor exposures, beta exposures, and sector exposures. II Returns-based analysis, including correlation studies, style exposures, drawdown analysis, and upside/downside capture. The manager-selection team is looking to identify consistency in the sources of alpha generated by the manager under analysis. The quantitative package is developed in order to help pinpoint areas of weakness and strength in the process that have filtered through to the portfolio's results-for example, a manager whose five-year track record is in the top quartile relative to peers, though 95 percent of the alpha generated came from one sector where the relevant research analyst has recently left for a hedge fund. This example is clearly an exaggeration; however, the quantitative package provides the manager-selection team with the data to dig very deep into