Investor Relations

SEVEN KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL INVESTOR RELATIONS 41A decision to list the stock on a foreign market. While this does not necessarilyrequire that Investor Relations staff be assigned to that country,in some cases, a position is created in this new market. It is not difficultto manage relations with local shareholders from a distance, providedthat information can be distributed through adequate channels.However, it does not necessarily give the same image of commitmentto this market place.2.3.4.1 ProfilesThe Investor Relations team need not be large, but it must be of the highestquality. Furthermore, Investor Relations is fundamentally a financefunction; It is, therefore, essential that Investor Relations staff members dothe following:Fully master the concepts associated with finance, equity markets andregulations;Have excellent writing and verbal skills;Speak and write English fluently if this is not the team’s nativelanguage;Be proficient in most common word processing, spreadsheet andpresentation software. For instance, computer graphics are typicallyoutsourced, but experience has shown that subcontracting is often timeconsuming—the contractors are not involved in developing the messagesand may not immediately understand what they are being askedto do—and very risky in terms of confidentiality. It is much safer todevelop a graphic charter using the most common software and thentrain staff to use this software, even if this means sending them to thegraphics studio to supervise the final stages of the publishing process.This solution can make the company more efficient and responsive, andgenerate cost savings as well.Relying on in-house resources is an efficient way to supervise the qualityof the Investor Relations documents in terms of content and form throughoutthe production process, that is, from the time the message is validated bymanagement through to when it is delivered to the public.In many ways, Investor Relations can be compared to marketing: Qualityclient service is the first and most effective marketing tool, internally as wellas externally. The Investor Relations team needs to be informed as earlyas possible about events that may impact the Investor Relations program