Line of Inquiry

A detailed, free-flowing questionnaire was developed for the CEO interviews which covered the following issues and concerns:

Which constituency – customers, employees, shareholders, general public – is most important to you?
What are the most important means or metrics by which a CEO’s performance should be measured?
Focus on the investment community:
- Time spent communicating with the investment community
- Greatest frustration in dealing with the investment community
- Investment community’s impact on strategy
- Role of the sell-side
- Impact of hedge funds
- Impact of Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD).
What are the most important drivers of your company’s investment appeal?
- Significance of financial drivers versus intangible drivers (strategy, corporate culture).
What are your views regarding the practice and benefits of providing earnings guidance?
Focus on the Board of Directors:
- Impact of increased board independence
- Extent of board’s involvement in setting strategy
- Do you serve on boards outside that of your own company?
Focus on investor communications:
- Most important attributes of an effective investor relations officer (IRO)
- How can IROs enhance their value to the company and to you specifically?
- How do you measure the effectiveness of the investor relations function?