INVESTOR RELATIONS TOOLS FOR BUSINESS IN SMART SPECIALIZATION STRATEGY

Abstract

Communication with investors is an important component in the activities of SMEs and large companies. Facing the new changes (development of digital technologies, COVID-19, smart specialization) the search for optimal tools of communication with investors becomes a priority for all key stakeholders of the investment process (business, academia, civil society, local authorities). The aim of the article is to identify effective communication tools for business and develop recommendations for their use in the context of smart specialization. Subject of research: investor relations of large, medium and small companies in the context of smart specialization. The main research methods are systemic (to build a system of investor relations tools) and analytical (to determine the IR tools among the studied companies; to analyze the tools of investor relations by using social media). As a result of the study, it is determined that the promotion of the Ukrainian companies through social networks is inactive (Facebook – 13%, Instagram and Twitter – 4%, YouTube – 5% and LinkedIn – 1%). More than half of the surveyed companies indicate that the most common investor relations tools are news releases and presentations (71.4%), answers to questions (61.1%) and annual reports (52.7%). In this article, smart specialization is considered as a common tool for communication between key stakeholders. It was determined that in the conditions of COVID-19, they used the following tools: online dialogues, online conferences, online sessions, online workshops, online presentations, world cafes, annual lectures, online consultations, webinars (partner webinars). This study set out to explore investor relations tools in the context of smart specialization. In addition, such global tendencies were revealed as: IR boosting startups’ transformation into large companies; increasing both the investors’ interest to the companies and the requirements to corporate transparency promote using of IR tools; investor meetings via online platforms; impact of regional specifics on choosing IR tools of different companies. The results of the investigation show that Ukrainian companies have different IR politics. The main reasons why they use IR tools actively are their own internal requirements to the quality management and the need in external funding. Moreover, new legislation demands to the super advisory boards of public companies are reflected in using IR tools.