Corporate Narrative in Annual Reports A Discourse Analysis of CEO Letters

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze CEO letters included in annual reports and to evaluate how the public relations narrative is structured in these letters. In this context the general manager/CEO message sections of the 2018 annual reports of Arcelik, Garanti Bank, Migros, and Turkcell (all among the top twelve companies in Turkey's Most Valuable Brands Report, as determined by a study conducted by Brand Finance in 2018) were selected as analysis units and examined using discourse analysis. The most common themes in CEO letters were, by order of frequency, environmental factors: social responsibility, financial reporting awards/achievements, infrastructure and growth, and marketing mix. Using discourse analysis, the study found that CEO letters, which are collections of statements, established the relationship between language and context through the use of 'the first person plural (we). The study also determined that global developments under the theme of environmental factors are closely monitored by CEOs and that corporate life is communicated through achievements and awards. Additionally, the study concluded that the theme of corporate social responsibility is generally established in the last section of CEO letters through. the codes of sponsorships, public benefit, and entrepreneurship, and that a significant majority of the sentences in CEO letters are in the past and present tenses.