CCM746 - Investor Relations

Subject Title
Investor Relations

Subject Description
The corporate communications  function exists to help organizations establish and sustain the social-political permission they need to continue operating successfully. The function accomplishes this by developing and executing communications programs that help the organization to maintain a constructive dialogue and relationship with its major stakeholders. One of these stakeholders is current and potential investors.

The publicly listed corporation has an obligation to engage in regular, transparent communications with institutional and retail investors who trade in its shares and with investors who may be interested in doing so. The basic purpose of the process is to ensure that information about plans and programs that may have a material impact on the corporation's investment worthiness is made available in a timely, comprehensible and fulsome manner to the larger community of investors in every jurisdiction in which the corporation's shares are traded.

An understanding of how capital markets work and of the rapidly changing regulations and constraints that stipulate the minimum standards that publicly listed corporations must meet when they communicate with investors is a key responsibility area for the professional corporate communications practitioner.

This course is intended to provide a basic understanding of how capital markets operate in Canada and of the concepts and terminology employed in the day-to-day dialogue between listed corporations and their investors. It explains why this knowledge is important to the corporate communications practitioner. It provides an overview of the basic communications activities that listed corporations engage in to fulfill their investor communications responsibilities. And it introduces students to some of the skills necessary to plan and execute an investor communications program.

Credit Status
Two CCM credits

Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this subject the student will be able to:

At the end of this course, students should:

1)  understand why a strong relationship with investors is important to the listed corporation,
2)  understand how corporate communications can affect this relationship,
3)  have a basic understanding of the structure and function of modern capital markets,
4)  understand the regulatory and statutory environment that governs management's investor communications responsibilities,
5)  understand the various ways investor attitudes and behavior are influenced,
6)  understand how to develop strategies that promote credible working relationship with investors and the regulatory bodies that govern capital markets, and
7)  understand the ethical issues involved in developing these relationships.

Academic Integrity
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Please visit the Academic Integrity website http://open2.senecac.on.ca/sites/academic-integrity/for-students to understand and learn more about how to prepare and submit work so that it supports academic integrity, and to avoid academic misconduct.

Discrimination/Harassment
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Accommodation for Students with Disabilities
The College will provide reasonable accommodation to students with disabilities in order to promote academic success. If you require accommodation, contact the Counselling and Accessibility Services Office at ext. 22900 to initiate the process for documenting, assessing and implementing your individual accommodation needs.

Camera Use and Recordings - Synchronous (Live) Classes
Synchronous (live) classes may be delivered in person, in a Flexible Learning space, or online through a Seneca web conferencing platform such as MS Teams or Zoom. Flexible Learning spaces are equipped with cameras, microphones, monitors and speakers that capture and stream instructor and student interactions, providing an in-person experience for students choosing to study online.

Students joining a live class online may be required to have a working camera in order to participate, or for certain activities (e.g. group work, assessments), and high-speed broadband access (e.g. Cable, DSL) is highly recommended. In the event students encounter circumstances that impact their ability to join the platform with their camera on, they should reach out to the professor to discuss. Live classes may be recorded and made available to students to support access to course content and promote student learning and success.

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