Last June I wrote a post Stories are Serious Business in which I chronicled how companies use stories in a variety of business functions. Since then, I’ve discovered that a number of companies are telling their story to enhance their corporate reporting. Robert Bruce indicates in “Corporate governance: Tall story”
Over the past few years we have seen a trend towards many different ways of measuring corporate success. At the heart has been the view that, with pure financial reporting figures becoming ever more complex, the story of corporate performance should be told just as much through narrative reporting and through the use of intangible issues.
This is an excellent trend. Telling the corporate story from an ever-growing number of sources within the organisation has to help to give a more useful picture to stakeholders and investors alike. The trend is also growing.
First there is the minimalist approach by Alcan Composites —
When you mouseover the year, a popup appears that further defines what happened to the company that year. Nice approach.
Dassault Falcon provides an innovative multi-faceted approach —
Do a mouseover on Our Story and navigate to the Timeline. You will see a comprehensive history with lots of images. When you click on a time period you see a concise narrative. You may also access the other options under Our Story. Dassault makes sure you get a good understanding about the company and what is stands for.
Another variation on this theme is Singapore based UOB Group. This banking company puts a comprehensive set of information in its Our Story section–
UOB crams lots of information useful to investors in Our Story. They don’t spend much time on history. But, you have quick access to Mission, Objectives, Strategies and Products and Services UOB offers. Well done.
Finally, if you need help telling your corporate history story here is a resource.
Lucy is Editor at Corporate Eye
