The headline of the day, in my book, comes in a post on the Wall Street Journal Real Time Economics blog marking the arrival of July 1:
It’s The Second Half — So Where’s The Recovery?
Investor relations professionals may feel the same ambivalence today, as we enter the back half of the year wondering about macroeconomic [...]
Examples abound of acquisitions that ultimately fail to benefit shareholders, and the wipeout in market values since 2007 has provided lots of new case studies. Exposure of deals-gone-bad serves as a cautionary tale for people who write merger announcements: Too often, standard M&A clichés don’t ring true.
One case in point – the 2006 acquisition of apparel [...]
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that this financial crisis was totally avoidable.
No, not the popping of the Greenspan debt bubble — that was inevitable — but the slamming of the stock market in its wake. This recession and destruction of financial firms was certainly probable – if not likely [...]
When the going gets tough, the best companies get going – to communicate more than ever with shareholders and analysts – according to Institutional Investor’s ranking of “America’s Best Investor Relations.”
The article in the magazine’s April 2009 issue is worth reading, but IR folks who want to benchmark against the “best” should go online and explore [...]
I guess we learned a couple of things in Monday’s market:
Rallies don’t go on forever, especially amid negative business fundamentals (say, two of the Big Three teetering on the brink).
Attention CEOs: President Obama is an activist shareholder, and if you take the government’s money you should know who’s in charge.
Economic and industrial policy is unhinged from [...]
March 17, 2009 – 11:03 am
One of the nastier comments to come out of the financial crisis is in the news today: Sen. Charles Grassley, ranking Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee, brings up suicide as an option for executives in failed financial firms.
From the AP story on Grassley (in an Iowa radio interview) joining the outcry over AIG executives receiving bonuses:
“I [...]
March 16, 2009 – 10:52 am
In turbulent times it’s not changing strategies - but staying the course - that builds a strong corporate reputation, according to this year’s “World’s Most Admired Companies,” in the March 16 Fortune.
What quality wins respect for firms like Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Toyota, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, FedEx, Southwest Airlines, GE and Microsoft - [...]
The Kansas City chapter of NIRI heard today from Derek Cole, an experienced investor relations pro and NIRI national board member who is Vice President-IR & Corporate Communications for ARCA biopharma Inc. in Denver. A sampling of Cole’s advice on “Winning IR in a Tough Economy”:
“Get out there” - despite the tough economy and market. The recession causes [...]
January 29, 2009 – 1:53 pm
A couple of Boston Consulting Group gurus urge companies to “Seize the Advantage in a Downturn” in the February 2009 issue of Harvard Business Review - and investor relations is part of their story.
After listing actions management can take to maximize cash and working capital, reduce costs, and drive revenue, authors David Rhodes and Daniel [...]
