Book Review – Newsline Volume 14 Issue 5 September 2004

The New Investor Relations – Expert Perspectives on the State of the Art

This one-volume handbook by 23 experts is an up-to-date reference for IROs and IR consultants – especially those with Canadian companies that are cross-listed in the U.S., or want to attract U.S. investors.

The New Investor Relations attempts to cover the landscape of the IR body of knowledge – from fundamentals to special case perspectives – for companies ranging from IPOs/micro-caps to blue chips – within the context of today’s business, economic and regulatory environment in the U.S.

It provides both macro views of the factors driving changes and practical investor relations lessons. It describes both strategic approaches for dealing with selected scenarios and tactics for preparing and executing plans.

The book has 15 chapters organized into four sections. IROs using this as a reference text can find specific topics in the well-developed Contents or Index sections. The book opens with “Fundamentals of Investor Relations”, written by Don Allen, of The Allen Group; our NIRI representative on the CIRI Board of Directors. It’s a good overview of IR practice and current U.S. regulatory requirements. I found the chapter, “IR for Non-U.S. Issuers Accessing the U.S. Capital Markets”, particularly meaningful for CIRI members. Other topics of particular interest include, “The Art of Winning Proxy Wars”, “Crisis Investor Relations” and “The IR – PR Nexus”.

I recommend this book as a reference guide, with the following caveats: although important for Canadian IROs, this is a U.S. perspective on the investor relations world; and because it was written by a variety of authors, the writing styles, approaches, perspectives and conclusions differ widely, so it doesn’t hang together except as a reference text. Finally, although this book is a useful addition to the IR body of knowledge, it barely touches on such important IR tools and expertise as investor perception audits, developing a strategic IR plan and IR websites.

Reviewed by Wilma Jacobs, Consultant
Blunn & Company Inc.

Book Review – Newsline Volume 14 Issue 3 May 2004

The Naked Corporation: How the Age of Transparency will Revolutionize Business by Don Tapscott and David Ticoll, published by Viking Canada in 2003

The thesis of the book is that the digital age has made corporate information ubiquitous, thereby shifting more power to stakeholders from corporations, and making corporations increasingly naked – unable to deny, cover up or distort reality except at their own peril.

Rather than being in denial, corporations should use transparency to their advantage to build trust with stakeholders and to improve performance through openness and honesty.

Book Review – Newsline Volume 14 Issue 2 March 2004
Best Practices in Global Investor Relations, The Creation of Shareholder Value
by Richard B. Higgins

The rapid evolution of securities regulations and investor relations best practices since this book was published relegate it to an interesting read with some noteworthy insights but not a current primer. A key strength is its international perspective. The author builds on his earlier book, The Search for Corporate Strategic Credibility: Concepts and Cases in Global Strategy Communications.

Organized into eight parts, the book describes the basics of how a corporation works. Hansell outlines succinctly the roles and responsibilities of directors, management, board committees and the board as a whole. Areas discussed include standards of performance for directors (fiduciary duty and duty of care); responsibilities when dealing with matters beyond the ordinary course of business; liability issues; and measures directors should take to protect themselves.

Reviewed by Tracy Lutz, Principal
Keystone Investor Relations