My fourth and latest book, Insidious Competition – The Battle for Meaning and the Corporate Image, is scheduled to be published in June 2010. For more information about my new book, please click here to go to the book’s Web site.
In the book, I discuss nine different types of insidious competitors present in social media. One of those types of competitors is NGOs and Activists, the “irregular” competitors that are the basis of our discussions here at Telofski.com. In fact, it was from the research on Insidious Competition that the concept of irregular competition evolved.
Well, putting aside irregular competition for a moment, I’d just like to mention that one of the insidious competitor types I discuss in my book is Activist Stockholders, cousins of the irregular competitors NGOs and Activists. In reviewing my news feeds recently I discovered the article “Divided SEC Proposes Investor Access Plan” which talks about how Activist Stockholders may be gaining more strength in their struggles against corporate management.
This article is quite interesting and updates an issue which I have been following for a while. The issue pertains directly to the discussion of Activist Stockholders as it appears in the book. Summarizing, the article discusses relaxation of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations for shareholder balloting in annual public corporation elections. You know. The annual “proxy fight.” The proposed rule changes would make it simpler for various stockholder groups to gain access to the corporate board and thereby control certain corporate decisions.
In my new book’s discussion of this type of insidious competitor, I mentioned that there is a pending rule change. I also mentioned that that change may take place as soon as early 2010. From what this article says, it looks like I was right. When this regulation change is combined with the force and power of social media, as I pointed out in the book, the influence of the Activist Stockholder will increase tremendously. And because of this potential shift in power, it should be incumbent on all C-suite executives and corporate communications personnel to learn how to deal with this impending threat to corporate operations.
Insidious Competition – The Battle for Meaning and the Corporate Image discusses these “how-to’s” in detail.
I’ll keep you updated on the publication of the book.
