Managing Investor Relations

Chapter 8

Focus on Relationship Building

Among the problems investor relations executives consider important for the future of the investor relations profession, one of the most important is the short-term fixation of shareholders.¹ Short-termism of investors can harm companies. Wolff-Reid explains, “In recent years, Wall Street’s obsession with beating quarterly numbers has been a destructive force, pushing companies to focus on short-term results down to penny.”² Thus, it becomes an investor relations’ responsibility to extend the horizon of the investors, or, as Bill Nielsen, a former Johnson & Johnson’s vice president, phrases it, “Turning stock-holders into stock-owners.” Communicating information beyond the U.S. generally accepted accounting ...