Beyond Compliance, Communications Prep For Emerging Growth Companies

This article was originally published on Forbes.com on September 13, 2023

RACHEL KULE, PURSUIT PR

Forbes Councils Member

Forbes Communications Council

As U.S. markets show signs of a strong finish to 2023, companies eyeing a public listing are going to need to stand out from the increasingly crowded pack. For executives, that means doubling down on their corporate and brand equity. Effectively communicating a robust environmental, social and governance (ESG) program, as well as staking out ground on corporate reputation and culture, will go a long way to attracting that vaunted capital.

The upswing in listings is evident with 55 companies achieving a successful raise so far this year versus 71 U.S. IPOs for all of last year. And they’ve raised nearly $10 billion already, 25% more than 2022’s total of $7.7 billion.

While there are still significant economic uncertainties, including when the Fed will stop raising rates to tamper inflation, companies seeking a public listing will need to have more than their numbers in line and compliance boxes checked.

As billionaire investor Mark Mobius recently said during an interview at the Greenwich Economic Forum in Hong Kong, ESG and “C”—corporate culture—feature prominently in his evaluation of a company’s prospects. It’s not just about return on equity, future projections and competitive outlook anymore. And standard metrics like backward-looking price-to-equity ratios are completely out of his picture.

So how does a company communicate these metrics that often defy simple numeric calculations? Establishing and maintaining a solid corporate reputation remains first and foremost the key differentiator.

Corporate reputation is how the public—and increasingly investors, business partners and their own employees—perceive the company. Stakeholders want to know more than just what a company stands for in terms of its mission, vision, and values, but how it relates to creating a positive work environment and improving the world we live in. Their interests include the overall brand, products, and services, as well as how corporate activities impact the environment and work conditions.

A strong C-suite communications strategy not only articulates these points, developing goodwill in the process, but also generates positive brand awareness and industry relevance. The “chief reputation officers” of the Company (the C-suite) have a major role in establishing and maintaining this reputation.

Internal and external surveys are a common way of assessing reputation. Increasingly, however, taking the pulse of public opinion through advanced open-source analytics provides a richer and wider view of what is being said, by whom and how much it matters. Rather than taking a snapshot in time, ongoing monitoring can expose sudden changes in sentiment, especially as a public listing nears.

On the ESG side, policy statements are no longer enough to establish a firm’s integrity in markets and stakeholders. Specific actions that highlight how a firm deals with the worsening climate crisis, improves peoples’ lives, betters society in meaningful ways, creates a more inclusive work environment and highlights how they govern corporate affairs all need to be clearly expressed.

Addressing how a firm’s programs avoid greenwashing of environmental efforts, for example, is a good way to establish credibility. Active outreach on social and workplace issues, with concrete examples of how the firm overcame challenges and succeeded in meeting its goals, will be instrumental in building trust and confidence.

Communicating succinctly, in the right venues, at the right time, provide the best chance for building engagement as a funding event approaches. This can include the quality of newsletters, increasing earned and owned media presence, and expanding executive thought leadership programs to increase visibility and establish industry eminence.

While compliance remains the foundation for any capital raise, brand and corporate equity is the structure built on top of these core financial and business processes. In an interconnected world where information travels instantly, that equity is more valuable than ever.

EGCs (emerging growth companies) with reputations of consistently stellar culture and bulletproof street credibility are best positioned. Those that focus on these core issues now will stand out against their peers in the race to grow market share and new customers.

Pursuit PR News to Use - October 2023

Pursuit News to Use is Pursuit PR’s signature news intelligence curation. We cover news related to the finance, tech, media and real estate sectors, as well as general business. For our clients, we tailor Pursuit News to advance their corporate reputation. 

With the fourth quarter now underway, global economies are grappling with the growth versus path to profit dilemma. It’s looking like a season of potential new beginnings for some. In the U.S., IPOs have recently enjoyed strong listings while China faces troubled assets along with a souring mood in equity markets. In New York, the dynamic start-up environment is ripe for capital. Across the coasts, the media industry is making progress with the Hollywood strike, while questions remain regarding the role of AI and streaming in revenues and employee pay.

Capital Markets

Mixed data coming out of China over the past few months has made economic predictions especially unclear. Either China’s dramatically slowing economy is caught in a structural downturn, with less and less room to maneuver, or Beijing will engineer renewed growth from a temporary bump in the post-COVID road to recovery. 

While experts debate the fine points of economic theories, a former Chinese government statistics official says China’s oversupply of homes is far worse than previously reported. Morgan Stanley’s Managing Director Jitania Kandhari, said in a recent CNBC interview “China is overinvested. It’s overleveraged and it’s oversupplied. And then it has this geopolitical cloud over it”. She sees semiconductors and green tech as potential bright spots as well as India’s growth prospects rising as it enters an early stage real estate cycle.

China’s equity markets also continue to struggle. In the first half of 2023, initial public offerings (IPOs) by mainland Chinese technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) companies declined both in the total number of listings and the value of funds they raised, according to PwC. Despite these headwinds, their report highlights new capital market policies and prospects for overall recovery as positive signs for the sector.

Over in Hong Kong, stock market transaction volume dropped leaving many company stock untraded. From January to August of this year daily average trading volume decreased 12% to HK$ 112 billion. On September 14th, 28% of listed companies had zero transactions. This illiquidity is lowering valuations and making financing more difficult.

U.S. equity markets, however, look dramatically different as the IPO market begins to heat up. Arm, Instacart, and Klaviyo all did well on their first day of trading, though prices have moderated since then. 

New York’s tech start-up scene also continues to thrive. Sequoia Capital opened a new office this past July. Last year over two thousand NY-based startups raised nearly $30 billion. The key to success, according to Goldman Sachs, is quality over quantity. Companies that are already profitable and show signs of strong sales growth are expected to do well post-IPO.
Media

Labor unions are making a comeback, most notably in Hollywood, as both writers and actors left the stage in pursuit of better contract terms. The disruptions affected scripted television shows, movies, and eventually even live TV as Drew Barrymore found out after deciding to go ahead despite the walkout. She soon reversed course after an outpouring of criticism and halted new airings. 

Writers have now reached a tentative deal with studios after nearly 150 days. Specific terms have yet to be released, but concerns over streaming rights, wages, and the use of AI were all on the table. Aaron Paul, of “Breaking Bad” fame, said he doesn’t even get royalties for the streaming rights to the highly popular reruns on Netflix. There has been little progress to date with talks between studio heads and the Screen Actors Guild, which threatens to keep new TV episodes and movies in limbo.

No matter what happens with wage talks, streaming is likely to get more expensive for consumers. Gunnar Wiedenfels, Warner Bros. Discovery CFO recently told the Bank of America Securities Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference that streaming media was being sold too cheaply. 

Over the past ten years, “in streaming, an enormously valuable amount of quality content has been given away well below fair market value, and I think that’s in the process of being corrected,” he said. Wiedefels also mentioned trying to get consumers into annual contracts to reduce churn.

Real Estate

The Fed decided to hold interest rates steady at their latest meeting. Inflation appears to be in check, but still far from the targeted 2% that bank governors prefer. Housing costs remain one of the key factors to lowering that number and 90% of July’s price increases were due to housing, according to the Labor Department. 

With residential mortgage rates still hovering around 7%, sellers and buyers are in a conundrum. Homeowners that want to move cite 5% as the magic number to make the economics work. Those that are buying, even at current rates, are ending up with smaller homes. 

At the higher end of the housing spectrum, wealthier buyers are no longer being courted by big banks that had been competing for their jumbo loans in the past. Climate change is also adding to homeowners’ concerns as insurers are removing natural disasters from policies as risks increase.

Still, there are promising signs of a recovery. Housing prices and rents are expected to drop over the next year. A number of price indices, including the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, show slowing increases in both rents and home prices. Since they are a major contributor to U.S. inflation statistics, this adds to the likelihood that the Fed may pause or begin to reverse rate increases next year.

Corporate Culture

Work-from-anywhere, born out of COVID lockdowns, changed how businesses operate. And for those workers that are facing new restrictions, like mandatory attendance in the office three or more times a week, they’ve quit and found new jobs that sustained their preferred work culture. However, the years of talent bidding wars may be coming to an end. Businesses say they’re reducing starting salaries for recruits after years of salary increases. 

Pursuit Perspectives with Jim Olson, Head of Communications at Avelo Airlines: Why The Mission is a Business Imperative

With more Fed tightening still a very real possibility for the second half of 2023, capital raising for cash-strapped companies is going to remain expensive. That would put profits high on the agenda of any corporate executive. And yet, the pursuit of profit alone is no longer enough to be successful. Purpose promotes performance. The mission drives business success. Those together lead to better profits. 

Given that a company certainly needs profits to stay in business, they have to “focus on the basics,” according to Jim Olson, Head of Communications for Avelo Airlines, who shared his thoughts with us during Pursuit Perspectives, the Pursuit PR thought leadership speaker series. Through executive and founder interviews, Pursuit PR taps into the experiences of successful executives and uncovers their viewpoints on market trends and professional development.  

For Avelo (which became America’s first new airline in nearly 15 years when it took flight in 2021), that means making sure all of their Crewmembers (how they refer to their employees) are well taken care of and focused on the mission of inspiring travel. “If they are excited and passionate they’ll take great care of our customers,” he said.  

The guiding philosophy is that happy customers will want to fly with Avelo again in the future and even pay a premium for safe, reliable, and convenient air travel. That, in turn, will generate more profits for investors.

Profitability is the net result of choosing the right business focus from the start. A positive feedback loop generates better revenue and in turn rewards employees, executives, and investors.  

The same was true at Starbucks where Olson was VP of Global Corporate Communications. The company took profits and reinvested in their employees, giving them access to a free college degree program through Arizona State University. Investing in the community, in the issues they care about, and in employees, were all driven by company earnings. And they were generated by mission-driven employees focused on serving their customers.

This contrasts with a company’s longer term vision, which is more lofty. It may include business planning and sustainable models that are helpful to attract investment and employees, however, the mission is more concrete. It can be used to orient on the now. 

A fact all industry leaders understand is that meeting expectations is good for business. Even more, it’s rewarding for all members of an organization to fulfill the mission. Keeping the mission alive is an essential motivating factor for employee retention, especially when it might be taking longer to realize the vision for growth.

But it’s not enough to talk about the mission. As Olson points out, thought leadership needs to transform into actual leadership. Actions matter. We preach to clients that you cannot message yourself out of a business problem. All ideas and information sharing needs to be based on actual facts - and even better, actions. 

This also relates to a concept we are quite fond of - “verbal shmerbal” as we like to call it. Companies need to create written content that articulates their stance on the company’s purpose, values, ethics, and codes of conduct. This is the same for evolving issues such as ESG, which is now a key metric upon which investors, consumers, and employees evaluate a company at all stages of growth for both public and private firms.

Understanding first-hand how enriching mission-driven leadership can be, Olson points out that finding “that intersection of a big problem that needs solving, doing the hard things, things that you are personally very passionate about and will ultimately lead to some good in the world, and obviously something that you’re really good at,” leads to a mission-driven career. And even though this may not run in a straight line, sometimes “those wrong turns lead you down an extraordinary path.” 

Pursuit PR’s thought leadership speaker series, Pursuit Perspectives, taps into the experiences of successful executives and uncovers their viewpoints on market trends and professional development in communications, technology, financial services and media.

HBO is the Epitome of Brand Staying Power

Well, it finally happened. Consumers officially lost the standalone brand of HBO and are now left with just Max. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) maintains HBO has achieved its “maximum reach”. But who is Max and what did they do with HBO? We wondered this while downloading the new Max app and eagerly awaiting for the series finale of Succession to load.

Upon opening Max, we immediately missed HBO. We were accustomed to seeing the HBO logo when turning on the screen. Without it, it just seemed barren. It makes us wonder why Max would discard such a recognizable and prized possession of a namesake rather than put it front and center. Understanding that consolidation necessitates integration, this decision is confusing.

After all, HBO was the original premium “it’s not TV” content provider. Founded in 1972 by Time Inc., the company has been streaming content direct to TV’s (initially through bulky rooftop antennas) for more than 50 years. The family “home box office,” replaced by the abbreviation HBO, is widely considered to be the ultimate in premium content, and the price reflects it.    

Many people likely feel a connection to this brand. Some of the best characters and shows have come from HBO. From Sex and the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm, to The Sopranos.

HBO is the epitome of a classic brand — what Nike is to sports apparel. It stands on its own, with television series, comedies, and movies that have become embedded in our culture from Larry Sanders to Larry David. Some, like Game of Thrones, are revered with cult-like status. In other words, you get what you pay for when it comes to their content.

If a brand is more than the sum of its parts, then what role does HBO play now within Max?

Max has a steep hill to climb to establish itself as the overarching brand. It will be important to lean into HBO whenever possible.

At present, HBO is still being promoted as its own hub within Max. It is also still being offered at an ad-free premium. After the highly anticipated Succession finale, we learned that from classics to new hits, consumers are in store for an entertaining start of the summer with more content. Just when we thought we lost HBO, we are getting more. 

And what will Max become? Does the combination of Discovery + HBO position Max to become the next Disney+?

It’s too early to tell how it will play out from a brand standpoint. Technically and financially it makes sense to offer a unified viewing experience.There may be reboots pulled from nostalgic content, classics and fan favorites. 

Many in the media industry as well as consumers are eagerly awaiting the answer to these questions. 

While we wonder how the marquee brand will evolve, we’ll be tuning into the new seasons of our favorites, especially Curb which we’ve been rewatching from season 1 in recent weeks. It’s going to be pretty, pretty, pretty good.

As "Succession" Shows, A Strong Brand Makes a Difference in Deals

As fans of the hit show “Succession” know (spoiler alert if you haven’t seen recent episodes) Logan Roy, scion of the about to be sold media empire of his name, suddenly passed away. This leaves the three siblings, who have been vying for the CEO position, left without a defined succession plan - a longstanding source of conflict with their father and amongst the siblings. All the while, a deal to sell a portion of the company to billionaire acquirer and hipster tech bro Lukas Matesson is still pending. Seeing an opportunity, Matesson tries to negotiate down on the price of the deal claiming he’s the bigger brand now that the company’s leadership is undefined - and, he wants it at a discount. 

As both parties seek the upper hand, there is a competition to demonstrate brand equity. Brand reputation is the difference between winning and losing - outlasting your competition or succumbing to them. In an unexpected twist, when son and heir apparent to the Roy empire Kendall Roy finds some dirt on Matesson, he flips the script and aims to squash the deal with regulation or buy out Matesson’s media conglomerate instead.

The story is unfolding while we begin what may be a long hot summer for companies looking to raise capital or be acquired. In parallel with Succession, companies with the strongest brand recognition are likely to earn the trickle of capital that’s still flowing. 

Companies need to stand out in both good times and more challenging times. 

Most recently, public markets over the last four quarters, combined, didn’t break $10 billion in IPO proceeds. That pales in comparison to the $35 billion raised in the fourth quarter of 2021 alone. M&A activity isn’t faring much better. Estimated deal values are coming in at barely $1 trillion for all of 2023 versus last year's over $4.5 trillion. The number of total deals are also projected to fall some 75% from last year to just over ten thousand, from more than forty thousand in 2022.

Stronger brands that earn more capital are able to withstand a drier period of funding, and we are seeing that play out as some companies get acquired and others go bust. It is unpredictable when the “window” will open again but when it does you want to be prepared and building a stronger brand will better position you to compete in such an environment. 

Brand identity is also more than just the sum of its parts. Take Apple, for example, with a bevy of gadgets that span phones to desktops to watches and increasingly services from streaming to personal finance. Each product needs to be strong and have a distinctive image and yet Apple as a brand has an overarching lifestyle image. 

The importance of a consistent voice, as in the fictional series “Succession” where brothers Kendall and Roman are pitted against each other over control of the flailing company theri father built, is also critical. A unified brand voice coming from the top, while at the same time allowing leaders to have unique and distinct perspectives, is a challenge many real companies face as well.

Bed, Bath, and Beyond, once a key anchor of strip malls across the United States, had to file for bankruptcy recently after trying to sell their own branded products. Turns out customers wanted good prices for known names and sales plummeted. 

Not only did the business strategy destroy credibility with its key suppliers who were kicked off store shelves, but the company lost sight of its mission, brand, and message and they could not attract a bail-out. Even if a company stays true to its overarching vision, day-to-day sales and revenue matter far more than lofty statements. 

With easy money all but gone, and Fed rates likely to stay higher for the time being, companies need to double down on what they do best – stick to their brand and focus on their business mission. These are the firms best positioned to thrive despite a parching summer investment drought.

How Communications Can Raise Eminence And Earn Capital - Forbes.com

This article was originally published on Forbes.com on February 22, 2023

Rachel Kule, Pursuit PR

Forbes Councils Member

Forbes Communications Council

A company preparing to raise capital needs to be very clear on who they are, what they stand for and how they are going to achieve their corporate mission. In a recent Forbes Expert Panel, I advised that it is essential for C-suite leaders to dig deep and understand not only what attracts investors but how the company will be evaluated against its broader goals. “Ultimately,” I wrote, “being clear on these aspects will enable the company to communicate its relevance and value.”

This applies to venture capital (VC)- and private equity (PE)-backed companies considering a public offering via an initial public offering (IPO), special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), or merger and acquisition (M&A) transaction. The exit is an important milestone—and it is also just the beginning. Once public, the company needs to sustain both communication and performance.

With markets as uncertain as they are, proactive communication must be a constant. The need to earn and sustain relevance becomes even more important. It is easy to communicate during the best of times, but it is critical during challenging times, as I’ve written about before.

Use the key elements of a strategic communications plan for capital markets.

Companies need to be able to articulate their marketplace position from a total stakeholder perspective. This starts with a strategic communications plan based on answering six main questions.

Who are you as a company?

Investor audiences expect a clear and succinct summary of the firm. Experience and knowledge of the business have to be honed into a description that is accurate and meaningful, beyond the details of what the company does or the products and services it offers.

What are your values as leaders?

Corporate executives have extensive professional experience and unique knowledge, but credentials don’t always differentiate a company from its peers.

Executive eminence has the potential to transform a company’s reputation. For example, thought leadership programs can result in new business leads, accessibility of new investor capital, positive client feedback, increased new hire interest and employee retention, and more opportunities for strategic partnerships.

Investors are also interested in the long-term viability of a business. The sustainability of the business is reinforced by the leadership’s ability to communicate operational excellence and strong corporate governance.

What does the company do?

A strategic communications lens is essential to developing an overarching company story. It requires a deep understanding of the nuances of the business, as well as connecting to the bigger picture of stakeholder perceptions and needs. As the company matures, the C-suite, department leaders and staff all need to be able to articulate exactly what the organization does as a whole, in addition to its other services.

What do you stand for?

Corporate mission must go well beyond just a website statement. To be most effective, it needs to live and breathe throughout all corporate communications. It needs to reflect the leadership’s core values, to become an authentic part of the guiding principles that advance the corporate vision. Otherwise, it will lack substance or appear unattainable. Investors expect a transparent mission—and strategic corporate communication creates such clarity.

What is the company’s vision?

A steady vision remains essential. One that is actionable, realistic and backed by solid traction generates confidence in the company’s overall viability. Vision alone cannot carry the company forward. However, it plays a strong role in articulating the connection between the business of today and future prospects.

Why does your business matter to the market now?

When it comes to going public, relevance has a strong bearing on private and public investor perception. Be clear on the demonstrable impact you are having on the market and why it matters now. Consider:

• Alignment of company performance with its purpose.

• Business model strength—including both revenue and profitability, or the ability to demonstrate a path to profit.

• Communicating company value—both perceived and real value for key stakeholders.

Corporate positioning necessitates a total stakeholder approach.

A strategic communications plan, with corporate positioning at its core, takes time to unpack, develop and elevate. The answers to the questions evolve along with the company and need to be revisited often. The most effective plans often also incorporate an ongoing executive thought leadership program that helps promote the firm’s latest insights and achievements.

A comprehensive assessment also needs to transcend internal perceptions. Investor, employee and partner expectations matter. For example, Stripe recently communicated their IPO intentions to employees along with a timeline for a decision and alternatives for cashing out. By employing a total stakeholder approach, the most relevant information can be shared based on understanding internal and external beliefs and interests.

Maintaining a strategic communications plan is a constant throughout a company’s growth journey—whether private or public, it requires fresh eyes, genuine scrutiny and refinement. It must be ongoing and not limited to key milestones and inflection points. The time to start is now.

Thankful for Five Years as Pursuit PR

On October 17, 2022, Pursuit PR reached its 5-year anniversary, a considerable milestone. As we reflect on this inflection point, we are thankful for the opportunity to support and grow alongside our clients.

The dream for Pursuit PR started during my sophomore year at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. During an alumni session, an established PR executive spoke with the class about her experience starting a firm after a decade working in-house at a major news station. She described her office set-up, how she changed her phone number so the last few digits were zero - to look like a bigger company - and the importance of her network. The possibilities of both public relations and entrepreneurism seemed fun and endless.

Fast forward to today, and it is so much more positive than I ever even imagined. I have had the unique opportunity to build this firm in partnership with my husband, Matthew Kule, since 2018. Further, my father Alan Gerber was an anchor as my career coach and Pursuit PR’s CFO and Managing Director, providing invaluable operations and business strategy counsel from the start. 

Now, we work at the intersection of the fast-paced industries of finance, tech, and media. Our talented community of specialists collaborate seamlessly every day. Our team of media relations, content creators, project management, business development, marketing, and employee experience has been essential to our growth. Together, we advance Pursuit PR’s mission: provide unmatched personalized client attention and exceptional results, driven by our core values of integrity, authenticity, and accountability.

With our focus on C-Suite communications, we have the opportunity to work with some of the most revered minds in business. We learn about best practices and industry trends on an ongoing basis. At the same time, we bring fresh thinking about how to best apply and amplify information in a way that our clients’ audiences understand and that resonates with the media. With intentionality, we create a safe environment to share unfiltered insights to help inspire thought leadership, drive media coverage, and raise eminence. It is rewarding to support inspirational people that value the work we do.

To date, referrals have been the source of business growth - and we are grateful for the recognition from our business partners, friends, and family. As we forge ahead, we are motivated as ever to relentlessly pursue and deliver results for our clients, team, and media partners.

Pursuit News to Use Intelligence

Trend Analysis

Capital Markets

U.S.-China relations may be at one of their lowest points in decades, but that isn’t stopping the world’s two largest economies from collaborating in financial markets. Chinese hotel chain Atour Holdings Ltd. is reportedly looking to list in the U.S. and is planning to open its order book for investors. That’s good news as the U.S. economy faces more Fed tightening and mixed quarterly earnings reports. 

Some Chinese firms in Hong Kong are also cooperating with U.S. audits, a requirement to keep them listed on U.S. exchanges. This had been a contentious issue for Beijing, which wanted its companies’ books kept off limits. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board officers have completed a first round of audits, on-site, at several Chinese concept stock companies. Hong Kong shares rose on the news.

It isn’t just Chinese companies looking for a market rebound. In early October, the still and sparkling water brand, Liquid Death, raised $70 million in its Series D funding round led by Science Ventures at a $700 million valuation. CEO Mike Cessario, in a recent Yahoo Finance interview, said that “an IPO path is something we're definitely going to seriously explore”, though he made no commitment to that funding path or provided a specific timeline for a decision.

Instacart, after delaying its own IPO, is paying this year’s employee bonuses in cash. That may go a long way towards employee retention in an environment where lucrative stock grants have lost their luster.

Technology and Media

The streaming wars are ramping up as the field becomes increasingly competitive. Netflix, in a risky move to add advertising for a lower priced tier of membership, announced a $7 per month plan that excludes some content and show downloads. Despite the competition from similarly priced offerings, Netflix remains a streaming leader and Barry Diller, chairman of IAC thinks they will remain in the top position. He did add on CNBC’s Squawk Box that the advertising model may add confusion to their market differentiator as a pure pay service.  

Amazon, with its own streaming offering, is expanding options for its Prime subscribers. The company is building out a larger music catalog in response to customer demand. They face competition not only from industry stalwarts like Netflix for series and movie content, Spotify and Apple on the music front, but also new content entrants including Walmart that is adding Paramount+ to its Walmart+ service. Overall growth rates are expected to slow for Amazon, so these new and expanded services may be key to retention going forward.

Not to be completely left out of the media landscape, movie theaters are hoping to attract viewers to the big screens with major releases in 2023, including more Marvel and DC Comics films. Domestic box office receipts have been hit hard by the Covid pandemic. Morgan Stanley estimates that this year’s revenues will come in about a third below 2019 totals with modest, yet slowing growth over the next two years. 

Workplace Trends 

Another tried and true method for keeping employees happy is creating a positive workplace culture. According to Gallup’s “State of the Global Workplace: 2022 report” the global economy loses trillions of dollars to low employee engagement.  Trends in engagement and wellbeing are stable, but at low levels. Work stress remains elevated. South Asia and Europe were highlighted as experiencing declines in worker satisfaction. The U.S. and Canada, however, remain top of the list of countries in which to find a new job, according to the survey.

In the U.S.,  employers are increasingly encouraging employees to return to the office as covid concerns decline. This is giving workers the chance to reset their relationships with managers, another go at first impressions post-pandemic.

And as in-person team reunions become more common, motivating them to innovate and take risks becomes increasingly important. Managers need to create an environment where there is a willingness to experiment as well as measure progress. Culture is key.

Pursuit News to Use Intelligence

Trend Analysis

Capital Markets

With all of the news about equity markets these past few months you’d think no executive in their right mind would go public in this environment. There is the Fed’s voracious appetite for tightening, a crimp on corporate earnings, weakening consumer demand, and a strengthening dollar. All of that is ricocheting around the world affecting markets in Asia and Europe. To top it off Germany is facing a severe energy crunch as Russia tightens the taps on gas just as winter descends. And its exports to China are hitting rough times as Beijing struggles with its own internal economic problems from Covid-zero policies to energy shortages and drought.

The truth about conventional wisdom is that it's often not the whole picture. Capital markets are getting a new boost as Porsche rocketed off the starting line to a $75 billion valuation in their debut Frankfurt listing. Nasdaq is also expecting Chinese listings to start picking up speed over the next few months as U.S. audit concerns dissipate in what appears to be agreement with Chinese authorities over access to corporate records. And Instacart is going ahead with its IPO plans, but is eschewing the traditional big-money raise. Instead, the company is banking on the sale of employees’ shares to raise capital at launch.

Even on the acquisitions front, companies looking to sell are finding some stellar deals. Figma, a startup co-founded by Ivy-league drop-out Dylan Field, who made wire diagramming for app development de rigeur, sold to Adobe for an eye-watering $20 billion.

Technology and Innovation

Not every acquisition yields ground-breaking innovation, however. When there is a lot of cheap money sloshing around, as it has been during the historic Fed loosening over the past few years, many firms try to buy their way to future growth. Bankers and external advisors may be keen to broker M&A deals, fueled in part by fat fees, but neglecting to build an internal capacity to innovate has costs. It may be tougher to re-tool corporate culture and merge bottom-up and top-down strategies to fuel innovative solutions, but they pay off when done right, according to a recent Harvard Business Review article on the “Perils of Innovation by Acquisition”.

Still, it’s no guarantee of success as Google found out with Stadia, its three-year-old cloud-based gaming service. Despite some technological prowess, the initiative failed to gain traction and was shut down. Corporate culture, it turns out, is proving to be an important requirement for continued success. Google CEO Sundar Pichai spent much of a recent all-hands meeting addressing employee concerns about company cost-cutting measures. Pichai, who expressed some annoyance during the meeting, said "I remember when Google was small and scrappy," and added that, "We shouldn’t always equate fun with money." 

Google's finance head told employees to temper their expectations for holiday parties.

Media

The entertainment sector is also adapting to the vicissitudes of fickle viewers in their attempt to innovate. Broadcast networks are launching fewer new shows this fall as they become more of a testing ground for content, like baseball farm teams. The ones that perform well can be promoted to the big leagues — streaming services. Rather than being judged on traditional metrics, the networks want to be evaluated with this new role in mind. 

That could be a challenge to advertising revenue on the mainstream channels. A shift is already underway for streaming services, which are also on the hunt for profitable content. That’s more likely to be ad-supported and “reality” TV-based in the genre of Judge Judy rather than blockbuster and budget-busting mega-projects like Game of Thrones. The competition is becoming intense, as former Disney CEO Bob Iger noted at Vox Media’s Code Conference. Not all of them are going to make it, he said, with Netflix, Apple TV+, Amazon, and Disney+ the most likely to survive. Iger expects HBO Max and Discovery+ to face tougher times.

HBO Max is already cutting back. Originally envisioned at launch in 2020 as the home of everything Warner Bros., DC, HBO, and kids shows, the service is cutting costs by jettisoning series and films as it shifts strategy in the lead up to next summer’s merge with Discovery+. 

Streaming services run by big tech parents are also betting big on live sports. Amazon Prime picked up the NFL’s Thursday Night Football coverage and Apple TV+ has MLB games. Some are also developing sports-oriented documentary series putting viewers into the world of professional athletes and teams during their biggest moments including Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” and Amazon’s “All or Nothing”.

So even though the markets are reeling from each new economic data point, from unemployment figures to headline inflation, the real economy continues to chug along. Some firms are announcing layoffs and tighter budgets, while others continue to thrive and invest in the long game where bigger profits lay.