Communicating with Key Stakeholders Corporate Communication Chapter 8 (2) Dr. Inas A.Hamid

Investor Relations (IR)  Do all organizations need to develop investor relations (IR)? 2

3  Investor relations (IR) mean building and maintaining of relationships with existent and potential suppliers of capital (individual, institutions, and analysts).  General Electric was the first company in the world to start a specialized investor relations department in  Some times, there is information asymmetry between companies and investors; which means there are gaps in the kind, quantity, and quality of information that can be accessed by large investors and small investors.  Some times there are hidden incentives for companies and investors not to share information (lack of transparency) about a company that is likely to affect its future performance.

The main objectives of IR Managing the routine interactions between a company and its financial stakeholders (investors). Improve their chances of generating favorable appraisals of their shares. Targeting them (investors) in an effort to persuade them about the company's future prospects. Gain their positive word of mouth (WOM) to build and maintain the company's image and reputation. Creating demand for the company's shares. Give an accurate representation of the company's past performance. 4

To achieve effective IR, IR specialists work closely with: Departments of finance, corporate communication, and legal. Top management. Internal audiences (company) The buy-side: institutional, individual investors, and fund managers. The sell-side: intermediaries that sell the company's shares (investment banks). they are tasked with assessing all available information about the company in order to develop their personal recommendations (buy, hold, sell). External audiences (environment) 5

6  The sell-side analyst are very important (one of the crucial stakeholders), because they often have enormous influence over the investment decisions of investors.  they build their reputations from their past recommendations.

7  IR messages should be integrated and consistent with the reputation platform of the organization.

Employee Relations: the role of Internal communication (ER)  All companies communicate with their employees.  As the volume of their communication grows, many companies create an employee relations(ER).  In a general sense, today the staff is younger, increasingly female, more ambitious and less loyal to the company than in the past. All of these reasons lead to the importance of internal communication.  The employee public is made up of numerous subgroups: senior managers, first-line supervisors, staff, contract workers and others.  Each group has different interests and concerns.  A smart organization will start to differentiate messages and communications to reach these segments. 8

Effective ER requires management to ask three questions:  Is management able to communicate effectively with employees?  Is communication trusted, and does it provide appropriate information to employees?  Has management communicated its commitment to its employees and to fostering a rewarding work environment? 9

ER specialist should fulfill one or more of the following rules: 1- Efficiency. Internal communication is used primarily to disseminate information about corporate activities. 2- Shared meaning. Internal communication is used to build a shared understanding among employees about corporate goals. 3- Connectivity. Internal communication is used mainly to clarify the connectedness of the company's people and activities. 4- satisfaction Internal communication is used to improve job satisfaction throughout the company. 10

Effective ER must reinforce five specific principles: Respect : Employees must be Respected for their worth and value. Honest feedback: By talking to workers about their strengths and weakness Recognition : Employees feel successful when management recognize their contributions. A voice : Giving the employees the chance to express their ideas & opinions Credibility is the Key Management must be truthful. Encouragement : Communication programs can be used to provide encouragement. 11

Employee communications Tactics: Online communications Voice mail Online newsletter Annual Reports Written for the employees. It can explain the performance of the organization during the year, reviewing changes. It can be motivational to team sprit The Intranet Convert sites to portal technology. Employees do not have to visit the site for information. Print Publications Focus on organizational strategies, management objectives, job information….. Comes out at a specific time. 12

13 Suggestion Box By which employees can express their thoughts on how to improve the company, its processes and products. Can be used to get the feedback. Face to face communication Most employees prefer information from their supervisor. Can be achieved through regular meetings between the management and the staff. Internal Video Can be used in training as in (Burger King). Distribute new company commercials, brand promotions.

Government Relations: Handling Public Affairs (GR) 14 Regulators Legislators Elected officials Appointed representatives who review the private sector activities  Companies need to develop effective communication with its governments.  GR describes the set of professionals who have specialized in this area in recent years.Government:

15 The best practices GR specialists should apply.  Personal relationship. personal and frequent contact is the best means of communicating with these influential decision makers.  Appropriate timing. the GRs role is to make sure that decision-makers have relevant information provided to them in a timely fashion at appropriate stages.  Objectivity. Decision makers have to be convinced that they are receiving information that is objective, scientific, relevant, and relatively free of bias.

Assignment  Suggest at least 3 tools that can be used in managing the IR.  How can the IR be integrated with the company's marketing communications?  How should a manager judge the effectiveness of the ER function? 16

The Research.  Prepare a research that discuss the importance of the Internet in developing good relations with the stakeholders, and how it can be used in developing these relations (customers, investors, media, government, the public, employees)?  Giving examples of one of the existing companies will support your answer and grade.  The project should be presented by the end of December.  Student can work in team-groups (between 3-4 students in each). Try to fulfill the following areas:  Literature review.  How can the internet be integrated with other marketing communication tools? 17