CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
5.2 Conclusions
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practitioners to execute the work well. Most corporations employ an IR with financial backgrounds. However, communication and relationships management skills as well as the practitioners’ own personality is also important. Corporations need to think about how to foster talents and build up an effective communication system or IR team to support IROs to manage their relationships with the investment community. On the other hand, IR is a field that had been neglected by college of commerce and communication for long time. It would be helpful if there are more discussion in the academia and related programs for college students.
5.2 Conclusions
IR is a very unique profession. It centers on communication while at the same time integrates different fields including finance, securities laws, marketing, and knowledge of the industry. The role of IR in corporate structure is also unique. No matter where it is placed, in the finance department, an independent IR department, or in other corporate functions, IR needs to have control of different levels of corporate information, which involved the issue of power relations.
Due to this complex nature of the profession, there is no best answer to IR’s position in corporate structure. It depends on the company’s needs and expectations towards IR. However, IR must be taken seriously and given sufficient help from the top management team if the company truly wants to build up the relationships with their shareholders and improve their position in the capital market.
As mentioned by many interviewees, the work of IR relies a lot on experiences since it requires knowledge of different fields, the practitioners’ personality, the relation building with the investment community, and even the power relations issue
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inside the corporation. It is not so easy to master the mission of IR in a short period of time. There are no programs teaching IR in school; the transmission of IR experiences and training becomes very important for junior IR practitioners.
5.3 Limitations and Future Research
Since there was not much research on the topic of IR profession in Taiwan, the current study serves as an explorative study and there are some limitations should be addressed. Although in-depth interviews help receive detailed opinions and have deeper discussions between the researcher and the interviewee, it is difficult to have a quantitative conclusion without an overall survey.
Moreover, since all the interviewees are very experienced and have been in the occupation for many years, it would be interesting to interview less experienced IR practitioners to see if they have different viewpoints on the topic of IR’s roles and functions. Also, junior IR practitioners may also have different opinions on the issue of power relations in the company due to their level and position.
IR practitioners with different backgrounds other than finance may also have different opinions in terms of their definitions and expectations on the roles and functions of IR. It would be helpful to use quantitative method to examine the correlation between IR’s features such as gender, seniority, corporate scale, corporate structure and etc, as well as their opinions on the different issue.
For future studies from communication college’s point of view, cross cultural research comparing the practice of IR in different markets can be another interesting angle as well. The practice of IR may differ in different markets due to the developments of financial markets as well as culture backgrounds and corporate
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cultures. It would be interesting to understand different styles and characteristics of IR practice. This may be very helpful for institutional investors and investment communities when communicating with IR practitioners of different cultural backgrounds.
In addition, the use of new media as an IR communication tool is a popular topic for recent IR practice and has been discussed in professional IR conferences many times these years. The success of social media and its grand user population attracts IR’s attention. However, using social media is still a proposal that most companies do not considered proper for IR to deliver message. von Alberti-Ahltaybat and Al-Htaybat’s study (2016) had shown the risks of using social media.
Interviewees of this current research shared the same viewpoint and thought it is not practical for IR, at least at this point of time. However, since it has attracted a degree of attention from professional IR practitioners and institutions, and the future development of social media is considerable, the use of social media for IR practice may still be a worth exploring topic in the future.
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陳淑珠，2006。公司治理、公司價值與投資人關係關聯性之研究—以台灣上市公 司之投資人為研究對象。靜宜大學管理碩士在職專班碩士論文。
曾羨雯，2010。投資人關係管理對公司價值認知之影響。國立中央大學企業管理 學系碩士在職專班碩士論文。
黃和傑，2006。投資人關係部門成立對公司的影響。國立成功大學高階管理碩士 在職專班碩士論文。
黃品方，2010。投資人知覺之服務品質、關係品質與關係績效之關係研究。淡江 大學企業管理學系碩士在職專班學位論文。
黃嘉怡，2010。上市電子公司之投資人關係管理。國立臺灣科技大學財務金融研 究所碩士論文。
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Appendix: Interview Transcripts
No.1 IR Manager, Traditional Industry 9 years IR experiences
首先，可否先請問您正式的職稱是什麼呢？
投資人關係經理（IR Manager）。
您如何進入現在這份工作，如過去求學的背景（大學、研究所主修）和工作經歷？
我大學主要是會計的背景，在會計事務所工作兩年後，再轉財務方面的碩士學位。之後做的工作 其實都是 internal auditor，就是公司的稽核。那後來因緣際會下，在輔導公司轉上櫃的裡頭，從 稽核兼任 IR 的工作，然後再開始進行 IR 的相關工作，到現在一共九年。所以這個轉折其實是意 外的安排。
您覺得這些經歷對您在 IR 的工作幫助大嗎？有什麼幫助？
是。因為我覺得在投資人關係工作裡頭，必須要對財報，還有公司的運作和流程有相當的了解，
在陳述公司的狀況的時候，才能說出比較符合相關的實際的狀況。所以我覺得稽核背景和財會對 我來說非常有幫助。
如何定義 IR 這個工作？
以國際的會計在初會介紹會計這個工作的時候，有一句話讓我印象很深刻，就是「會計是企業的 語言」，可是這個語言的解釋和陳述，是需要透過人去做。那我覺得投資人關係的話，就是一個 轉達這樣語言的工作，讓大家對我們公司的瞭解比較在同一個水平上。所以我覺得有這樣子的 background，對理解這樣子的概念是非常重要的而且是非常有幫助的。有財經和會計的背景，如 果能再結合本身 communication 是很重要的。應該說一間公司的組織，「溝通」不管在哪個層面 上都是非常重要的。
IR 在公司的組織架構？工作通常對誰報告？
隸屬在財務單位。直屬長官算 CFO。
除了 CFO，IR 還必須向其他管理階層報告嗎？
就執行長。
請問您覺得 IR 安排在這個部門妥當嗎？若否，您覺得 IR 應該安排在什麼部門？
我覺得主要是因為我們一開始發言人的設置，等於是財務的 head 是做發言人。所以投資人關係 和發言人做相輔相陳的工作，所以會設置在一起。但是每個公司的溝通模式可能都不太一樣，我 只能說以現階段的溝通對於，譬如說取得數字跟說明，這樣是比較有效率的。
部門現在有幾個人在做 IR？
只有一個發言人和一個 IR。
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那你們有 out source 外面的 agency 在幫忙處理一些 IR 的事務嗎？
沒有欸，其實就是公司內部的人單獨在處理。投資人關係還有發言人、財務協理，都是主要的溝 通窗口。
請問您的工作會經常與 PR 部門互動嗎？通常怎麼合作？
我覺得跟 PR 的互動其實是很緊密，尤其是在於新聞稿的合作上，就是我們要提供相關的數據的 陳述，PR 再把它寫成比較人性化的內容，所以這是蠻密切的。
請問您平常互動的外部關係人是哪些？您如何與他們互動與溝通？
對外溝通的重要性就是，如何把公司很簡單的公告做比較系統性和故事性的陳述，所以 IR 解釋 數字和情況的能力是非常重要的，那對外來講是了解公司很重要的職務和窗口。
其實外部群眾泛指一般投資大眾，還有投資人，通通都是，那甚至還有包括內部的員工其實都是，
因為內部員工也有可能是投資人。
應該說我們主要目的的對象是投資人，那要跟投資人溝通，除了我們自己溝通之外，他們也會需 要媒體跟 sell-side 的幫忙。所以當然最直接最重要的是投資人，可是讓媒體、分析師了解我們公
應該說我們主要目的的對象是投資人，那要跟投資人溝通，除了我們自己溝通之外，他們也會需 要媒體跟 sell-side 的幫忙。所以當然最直接最重要的是投資人，可是讓媒體、分析師了解我們公