Revealing corporate identities in annual reports

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the paper is to discuss corporate identities as they are expressed visually in annual reports in order to demonstrate how (and how much) the annual report as a statutory document is used strategically by companies as a means of investor relations in order to position the company as attractive to investors and other stakeholders.

Design/methodology/approach

An explorative visual analysis is employed on a corpus of six Danish companies from different branches of business and industry. The study is based strictly on a communication perspective and pays equal attention to the annual report's communicative purposes. In order to be able to draw conclusions on the strategic use of visual elements in annual reports, the findings from the visual analysis are further related to the corporate strategies of the companies as they are expressed through the companies' missions, visions, and values.

Findings

The study provides an empirical basis for concluding that visual elements are used strategically in annual reports to construct corporate identity aligned with company strategy in order to position companies as attractive to investors and other stakeholders.

Originality/value

This paper's contribution is to provide an empirical basis for a discussion of the potential of the annual report as a vehicle for constructing corporate identity.

Citation

Grove Ditlevsen, M. (2012), "Revealing corporate identities in annual reports", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 379-403. https://doi.org/10.1108/13563281211253593