Shareholder Value

This is worth reading in its entirety.  The author defines six modes of shareholder value that a company can take.  The first, corporate fundamentalists want to boost profits and share price immediately.  Nothing can sway them from the goal.  The second are corporate toilers who want to boost share price but are more patient about it.  The third group, corporate oracles want to boost share price but do so in light of societal/legal changes that will be coming down the road.  The example is becoming a green company before it is mandated.  The fourth, corporate kings, are so successful in creating shareholder value that they can ignore it for awhile and still succeed.  The fifth are corporate socialists who believe shareholder value is not as important as the needs of society.  The sixth and final group are corporate apostates who ignore shareholder value completely and use the money they make for other purposes.  Companies can move from one category to another based on their leadership’s views.  The article is a nice summary and worth noting because it shows how communications should shift based on a company’s concern for shareholder value.