New Dimensions in Investor Relations: Competing for Capital in the 21st Century (Frontiers in Finance) [Hardcover]

Bruce W. Marcus (Author), Sherwood Lee Wallace (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471141534 | ISBN-13: 978-0471141532 | Publication Date: November 3, 1997 | Edition: 1

The acknowledged bible on investor relations

Investor relations is an essential facet of any publicly traded company, inevitably affecting its stock price, investments, and liquidity. Maximizing Your Investor Relations provides practical guidance needed to master this complex undertaking and advocate persuasively on your company's behalf to achieve greater recognition and value. Comprehensive and thoughtful, it focuses on controlling the day-to-day mechanics of investor relations to more effectively compete for capital.

BRUCE W. MARCUS (Easton, Connecticut) has held senior executive positions with Mobil Corporation, Arthur Young & Co., and Coopers and Lybrand. SHERWOOD LEE WALLACE (Northbrook, Illinois) is President and CE of the Investor Relations Company.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Provides marketing plans and step-by-step examples that communications professionals can adapt to their needs. Shows professionals how to attract the capital they need from the global pool of sources in an increasingly competitive marketplace. This book contains everything corporate officers need to control the day-to-day mechanics of investor relations--to get and keep shareholders and effectively compete for capital.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (November 3, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471141534
• ISBN-13: 978-0471141532
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,272,169 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good read, but not a good reference guide, April 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: New Dimensions in Investor Relations: Competing for Capital in the 21st Century (Frontiers in Finance) (Hardcover)

I was looking for a great reference book that would quickly answer my questions. Unfortunately, this book must be read thoroughly (or at least a chapter at a time). The index could have been much, much more detailed. As it stands, the index is an afterthought, and a very bad one at that. With a better index, this could be a reference book. As it stands, it's still worth the read. I'll still be looking for a better reference guide, though.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Beginner's Guide to IR, June 3, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Dimensions in Investor Relations: Competing for Capital in the 21st Century (Frontiers in Finance) (Hardcover)

A very thorough review of the growing Investor Relations profession. Identifies modern techniques, strategies, resources, and basic SEC disclosure rules used in everything from the pre-IPO to the annual meeting. A great primer for anyone considering a career in Investor Relations.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A waste of money for anyone with basic marketing skills, March 23, 2010

By 

Trurl (Los Gatos, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: New Dimensions in Investor Relations: Competing for Capital in the 21st Century (Frontiers in Finance) (Hardcover)

NIRI (the investor relations professional body) positions it as the bible of IR, so I thought it worth a shot. Not so.

I used to be a PR person. The book started turning me off the minute it said that PR people can't become IR people - that there's no way even a very able PR person can become a competent IR person. Because IR is far too complicated, apparently. In case I missed it first time round, it repeats this theme many times through the book. Probably a dozen, at least, and I am not exaggerating. I get that IR isn't PR, that there are other skills (that's why I bought the book, after all) but I think a blanket statement that PR people are incapable of developing those skills just is pompous and ignorant. What is _particularly_ annoying is that the book spends fully two-thirds of its pages on how to prepare for analyst meetings, how to organize a roadshow, how to put on an analyst day and various other activities. It goes into extraordinary detail on each of these, despite the fact that any competent PR person could do them in their sleep. It also spends tens of pages on messaging and how to position your company - again, another basic PR skill.

There is also a whole chapter (admittedly a relatively short one) pontificating about how the market has changed forever. The book was written in 1999, just before the dotcom crash. Normally I wouldn't hold a failure to predict a crash against people, but plenty of people did predict that one. Including me (although I was in PR at the time, probably drunk on G&Ts - see quote below). The whole dotcom thing was pretty clearly built on sand. And, anyway, it's foolhardy for anyone to claim that any market has "changed forever" with the implication of no further significant change.

Funnily enough, the useful IR content is all in a couple of appendices at the end, and these are reprints of circulars NIRI sent out a few years prior, and haven't been touched by the authors of the book.

In case you think I'm being oversensitive, here's a typical quote: "Unlike the public relations person, however, the investor relations counsel can't subsist on merely an inventive mind, an outgoing personality, and the ability to express an idea on paper." You're so right: PR people shouldn't try and bother their pretty little heads with anything as complicated as what those clever IR people do. Just stick to buying cocktails for journalists. And don't think I didn't notice that they talked about a PR _person_ and an IR _counsel_. They have no clue what PR is, and that makes me wonder about how well they understand those related aspects of IR. Avoid if you're entering IR from a marketing-related discipline.