A fund can be managed according to different investment approaches. When making investment decisions, a distinction is usually made between the top-down and the bottom-up approach. While in the top-down approach the fund management first determines weightings for the individual investment countries based on economic data and then fills the quota with securities, the fund management proceeding according to the bottom-up approach selects interesting individual securities without paying attention to the country quota. Especially small cap funds are usually managed according to the bottom-up approach. The fund management is usually oriented towards a reference index. By comparing the index and the fund performance, the performance of the management becomes measurable. The aim is to achieve an increase in value above the index or a lower loss in value by the management deliberately deviating from the index composition and, for example, by having certain securities more or less strongly represented in the fund than in the index.