This article is about marketing process and communication. Goldstein (2005) argues that annual report cannot reach readers whatever in which form, online or printed, if the report is not modern. In order to support this argument, Goldstein presents several advantages of annual reports. Annual report provides a chance to coherent forward-looking stories and to shows how to perceive a company. A company’s annual report is also the best opportunity to leave a deep impression to shareholders so that staffs can provide a “unique voice” to tell a clear and consistent story about the direction and increasingly diverse shareholder audience can be resonated with staffs.
There is potential bias on the part of the author, which is a decrease to the reliability of the source. Base on his own experience and opinion, Goldstein (2005) makes his opinion subjective. Else, the author is a managing director of Depository Trust and Cleaning Corporations (DTCC); this reduces the reliability of the information since it can be viewed as a form of self-promotion.
The limitation is that the author puts himself in DTCC’s position, and it makes his opinion narrow. Although the author offers some suitable advice on making a better annual report, for instance, choosing a central theme and developing a secondary theme, etc. Most of the examples come from author’s personal experience, so there is not enough evidence to prove the author’s opinion.
Goldstein, S, 2005, “Unleashing the power of the annual report at DTCC”, Strategic Communication Management, Vol.9, Issue.3,