2. INTRODUCTION
Communicating the annual results is the most important
activity in any organisation
Textual analysis on letter to shareholders of three
consecutive years from 21 ‘BSE 100’ companies to
3. Purpose
Effectiveness of letter to shareholders on certain
quantifiable parameters
How these factors vary with changing market condition
s thereby affecting the communication
Shareholders ease of understanding
Shareholders association with the organization
Parameters on which a shareholder gives the credentials
4. Analysing the kind of tone used in the letter
Change in the style of communication with changing
market conditions that affect company’s performance
Average of each quantifiable parameter is used as the final
data to derive the conclusion
Various parameters are thus plotted on different histograms
on yearly basis for the financial year 2008, 2009 and 2010.
6. Gathering Information
The letter to shareholders is an important part of an
annual report.
Annual reports for three consecutive sessions
2008-2009 , 2009-2010 and 2010-2011
of 21 companies from the BSE 100 index were collected.
7. List of Companies
• Wipro •Reliance Communications •Ranbaxy Laboratories
•Reliance Natural •Steel Authority of India
• Zee Entertainment Ltd.
• USL •Reliance Petroleum
•Sterlite Industries
• United Phosphorus •Reliance Infrastructure
•Suzlon
• TCS •Reliance Power
•Tata Motors
• Punjab National Bank
•Reliance Industries
• State Bank of India •Tata Tea
•Reliance Capital
•Unitech
8. PARAMETERS
Content Analysis of letters was done based on 11 parameters.
( Parameters are derived from a study by Karen S. Sterkel on writing
styles in business communication)
Active /Passive Sentences
Number of paragraphs
Number of words
Number of sentences
Average Length of sentences
9. Parameters Contd…
Number of jargons used
Number of Difficult words
You Orientation
Positive/ Negative tone
Direct/ Indirect Approach
Requesting/Demanding
10. Every letter was evaluated by all the members of the group.
Hence, 5 sets of data so obtained were merged into 1 by
averaging the value for each parameter for every letter.
Statistical tools and techniques were then applied on these
averaged values to draw inferences.
24. Conclusion
The study helped us analyze the various factors contributing to the
effectiveness of communication in CEO’s letter to shareholders.
25. Conclusion contd..
Positive tone
Most companies focus on having a positive tone.
Positive tone improved from 2008 to 2010
You orientation
high you orientation in the letter to shareholders reflects
management’s empathy towards the shareholders
Increase in crisis period
26. Conclusion contd..
Number of passive sentences
Number of difficult word
Number of jargon used
indicate the ease of readability
decreases from 2008 to 2010
Number of words , sentences paragraphs and average length of
sentence
27. Conclusion contd..
These parameters affects tone used in the letter,
Determines how easy it is to read and understand the report
Changes in the style of communication with changing market.
conditions that affect company’s performance.