IR Magazine has released a new report investigating the changing nature of attitudes toward stakeholder issues and the effect this has upon IR. The report identifies nine key stakeholder areas and examines their level of corporate focus and investor interest. The report further looks at how attention given to stakeholder concerns has changed in recent years and what these developments mean for the practice of IR.
Click here to download the report >>
Findings are based on the responses of 441 IROs to the IR Magazine Global IR Survey conducted from Q1 to Q3 2021. Data in the report is broken down by region and company size.
Key findings
- Resource management is the stakeholder issue companies most commonly report on.
- Employee relations is the stakeholder issue most commonly featured in the annual report.
- A majority of companies have increased their focus on all nine stakeholder areas identified in this report.
- Just over half of IROs say their company has changed their focus on stakeholder management as a result of Covid-19.
- Approaching two thirds of IROs believe companies are as accountable to other stakeholders as they are to investors.
- Customer relations is the stakeholder issue IROs have most discussed with investors.
- IROs believe government and regulatory engagement is the stakeholder issue investors are most concerned about.
- The biggest increase in investor interest has been in the issue of carbon-neutrality.
- One third of IROs agree that stakeholder issues are only a priority as long as shareholders deem them to be material, while half of IROs disagree.
