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Research Reports: Analysis or Publicity?
February, 2003 SELLING IS A “NOBLE function in the United States,” finance professor George Parker told alumni/ae last fall, but “no one should ever expect salespeople to give an independent evaluation of their products.” That, in a sense, is what many investors did when they ignored the wording on the bottom of analysts’ research reports that says the report was prepared by an employee of a company doing business with the firm whose stock was being analyzed. In an Alumni Weekend talk on accounting issues in the wake of business scandals, Parker said he had come to wonder if investors needed the word “advertisement” printed at the top of these reports in the same way that newspapers label ads that look too much like stories. “Selling is meant to be advocacy, and advocacy has a place in markets,” he said, “although it has to be labeled as advocacy.” Parker gave similar talks to two groups of alumni/ae in Mexico. |
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