DISQUS

Dominic Jones · 2 years ago

Firstly, there are no investor relations people at public companies who blog on their companies' behalf. Show me one because I've been looking for years. So the entire premise of this post is wrong. Did you and he mean IT, HR, PR perhaps, because IR is as familiar with blogging as the khoisan are to snow.

Second, do you have one shred of evidence that marketing and IR are a waste of money? And what are "huge amounts of money"? What is the average IR budget of a public company?

Most IR as it is practices today is overpriced compliance, but I don't know where this myth about IR being a marketing function comes from. It should be more like marketing, but it's not.

David Churbuck · 2 years ago

Hey,
I took the post down because I'm not confident that blogging overtly about Lenovo is the right move for me any more. PErsonal decision, not driven by any request or corporate sponsorship, just one to keep things pure on the blog and personal. If I want to talk about the company more overtly I'll do it on an official corporate blog.

Toilet analogy -- PR and IR are necessary, like lights and phones and septic. An organization needs to manage communications, particularly highly regulated ones, but it doesn't mean that it is particularly valuable beyond defensive.

Dennis Howlett · 2 years ago

@Dominic: you're making assumptions about the whole when the IR part is a modest element and one that Vinnie picked up but which I amplified. I've been in @David's shoes for a long time so I see first hand the nonsense that goes on and can entirely identify with what he says. It is still going on. The analyst calls I listen to are at best sugar coated and at worst exercises in control. We have an expression for it: grinf**king.

IR not marketing? When was the last time a CEO stood up and said anything other than 'we're gorgeous' to a crowd of analysts *except* when they're under review and then even less is said. Look at the Dell makeover in its recent filings - analysts calling it trivial when it's a big deal. Listen to the 'stuff' at Morgan Stanley, Lehman, Piper Jeffrey etc investor days. The recent Sage call was a masterclass in downplaying dreadful results in the US while making the maintenance story play. It's ALL about marketing because that's the CEOs job - market the share price.

I think you'd agree that whatever IR is - it is a closed club of 'good ol' boys' which doesn't of itself create a healthy environment.

@David - No worries - I've done the same - only curious. I was drawn to the post because of what you were saying. It struck me as 'one in the eye' for the command and control masseurs out there but I fully understand your position. Trouble is RSS/Google cache lives on forever ;) And I do have a soft spot for Thinkpads so...

vinnie mirchandani · 2 years ago

Dominic, from what I can see, not just IR few marketing people blog...it seems like techies blog more than any other group in tech vendors. But marketing and IR define the tone of public conversations and that is what I was pointing to.

Dominic Jones · 2 years ago

Dennis, I think you're confusing spin for marketing and stock promoters with IR pros. Spin is more a PR thing and a natural tendency for insecure executives. But you're right that a lot of companies are less than frank with investors. But there are many that are straightforward, too. I think you'll find that where there is an IR person who is respected by management, there is more frankness in the discourse between executives and investors. And where executives respect the role of investors, the same applies.

On the old boys club, I agree. It's a major problem for the IR profession. It's too stuck up and sheltered. Many people are too afraid to challenge IR because the IR folks can easily hide behind the excuse of regulations.

Vinnie, I don't think IR people give a damn about the tone of what company bloggers are writing about. They're only concerned about all and sundry writing about secret market moving information that isn't already public. It would make their jobs harder. But it's also justifiable that there be those limits on corporate bloggers because its fairer to all investors if such information come out in a more official way.

But other than that, IR really has no real say over what people want to blog about.

Dennis Howlett · 2 years ago

@Dominic: At the risk of sounding facetious, I must either be extremely unlucky or the marketers and PRs I've seen walking arm in arm for the last 16 years are a figment of my imagination. Or I am very cynical.

I'm sure that as in any profession there are those who do a diligent job and I did say 'most' not 'all' in my original post. But in all honesty - and specifically in the tech sector - I can count on the fingers of less than 2 hands the number of PRs I would say actually did the job that I as a commenter want them to do on a consistent basis.

On the rare occasions I have had a straight conversation with these folk, it's always the same: 'We're here to control the message.' Usually said with a knowing grin. Admittedly I have less contact with IR types than I do business PR but the same seems to hold true.

Everyone tells me the world is changing and that the emphasis is on transparency, conversation etc etc. No real evidence to date. "The excuse of regulation" as you say may have a lot to answer for but it cannot continue with any degree of credibility. I don't see why it should when companies like Sun and IBM have sensible policies in place. But hey - it may be a flat world, but the information that's going around is unevenly distributed and of variable quality.

Vincent Lieffroy · 2 years ago

Good point, totally agree with this post.