Reviewing an organization’s website provides insight into a company’s history, financial position, products and services, resources, recent corporate news, and a host of informational material to attract customers and inform potential investors. Sriramesh, Rivera-Sanchez & Soriano (2013) suggest that corporate websites offer an important public relations forum by providing “immense opportunities for the development of ethical, strategic, and symbiotic communication between organizations and their relevant publics” (p. 122).
Question
Steelcase, Inc., Case 8-1, Question 6. What can you learn about Steelcase today through an online search of its website?
Answer
To learn more about Steelcase, Inc. from an online search of its current website,
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Upon moving from a private to public company, Steelcase continued to operate with a private company mindset often assuming a “defensive posture towards inquisitive analysts or investors” (Argenti, 2016, p. 225). Their actions were based on a long-standing culture of family control resulting in an imbalance of information sharing with its constituencies. To counter information asymmetry in a public company, Rodrigues & Galdi (2017) suggest that deliberate activities are required to inform previously uninformed investors as it offers significant advantages to include improved visibility, widened shareholder base, and increased media and analyst coverage. Investors play a significant role in the growth and success of an organization and it is important to freely share both financial and nonfinancial information to support company valuation. Steelcase’s practice of selective information sharing and reluctance to publicly share information with analysts and investors has apparently changed based on content on their current