Robert Adden

University Honors with Honors in Marketing

Major: Business Administration

Supervisor: Thomas Porter, Marketing

The CEO Mindset: Content Analyses of Quarterly Conference Call Presentations

This research examines the characteristics of presentations made by CEOs of Fortune 1000 retail companies at quarterly conference calls to industry analysts. Conference calls are a critical tool though which corporations communicate with the investment community (institutional investors and financial analysts). This study focuses on the thematic content of the CEO’s remarks and attempts to discover the underlying meaning behind those statements. Results suggest that managers of lower performing companies are more likely to focus on future activities rather than focusing on past events, are less likely to discuss specific financial results and are more likely to utilize negative evaluative comments. CEOs of lower performing companies are also more likely to discuss goals, restructuring, customers, and the external environment. CEOs of high performing companies are more likely to remark on acquisitions and international performance.