Saint Leo University Steelcase Investor Day Discussion Responses
You can visit the Steelcase website and find information on its investor day.
Below is the link for the presentation for October 2018’s investor day.
http://ir.steelcase.com/static-files/d2cf37ce-ae48-4acd-97a6-7edbdc03f6dd
in 200 words
What other companies have a similar day? How does this benefit the company? What is the purpose of such a dedicated day?
AND
In 200 words write a response to this discussion
In 1998 Steelcase, Inc was considered a great business with a great reputation , integrity, a tremendous management team,and very caring staff. The company worked hard to get ready to become public by always “putting people first before profits” according to Perry Grueber Director of Investor Relations (IR).
Grueber was hired to replace VP of Finance, treasurer and head of Investor relations Gary Malburg (Argenti 2014). Malburg at the time could only dedicate a quarter of his time to IR along with the marketing and communications director they decided they would communicate with investors via press releases and annual reports. Once he took over, the best direction for Grueber would be to stablish communication strategies with the CEO, CFO and all major players of the management team from the top down.In order for Grueber to be able to increase his resources and stablish good channels of communication , he would need to start by sharing more information with his constituencies and empowering them to create more brand authority.The best direction to take would be to create an IR Program that would build personal relationships with investors, analyst and portfolio managers. IR departments need to target the right money managers that can really do something with th stock (Demer 2002). As part of the communication strategy he would need to incorporate internal and external communications that would keep real time information for investors , all while increasing online engagement thru using social media an live webcast.
The biggest challenge for IR would be to keep an open line of communication. Steelecase Inc. had a very hard time creating an atmosphere of transparency, they were used to the “family way” of doing things, where only the people in their inner circle had information.For a public company and investors lack of clarity and direction affects the confidence an investor could have in the company. Another problem Gueber faced along with lack of communication was lack of empowerment of their employees. Steelcase Inc employees did not know what information to share once the company went public.They were not aware what information would affect the stock price or what information to share.
Steelcase Inc, took their time to get ready to go public, they forgot one key component of communication which is transparency.Since they were used to doing things the old fashion way they lacked vision in stablishing their IR department.To start they did not have a dedicated person for the job, in a market that is complex even experts cannot be expert in everything (Mackintosh 2014).A strong IR department would have kept investors aware of the companies goals, equity, forecast and earnings. This type of communication would have kept a positive image of the company while easing the mind of shareholders and adding value to their name.
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