Rhetoric, argument and impression management in hostile takeover defence documents

Niamh Brennan (), Caroline A. Daly and Claire S. Harrington

Open Access publications from Research Repository, University College Dublin

Abstract: This exploratory study extends the analysis of narrative disclosures from routine reporting contexts such as annual reports and press releases to non-routine takeover documents where the financial consequences of narrative disclosures can be substantial. Rhetoric and argument in the form of impression management techniques in narrative disclosures are examined. Prior thematic content analysis methods for analysing good and bad news disclosures are adapted to the attacking and defensive themes in the defence documents of target companies subject to hostile takeover bids. The paper examines the incidence, extent and implications of impression management in ten hostile takeover defence documents issued by target companies listed on the London Stock Exchange between 1 January 2006 and 30 June 2008. Three impression management strategies – thematic, visual and rhetorical manipulation – are investigated using content analysis methodologies. The findings of the research indicate that thematic, visual and rhetorical manipulation is evident in hostile takeover defence documents. Attacking and defensive sentences were found to comprise the majority of the defence documents analysed. Such sentences exhibited varying degrees of visual and rhetorical emphasis, which served to award greater or lesser degrees of prominence to the information conveyed by target company management. While exploratory in nature, this paper concludes with suggestions for future more systematic research allowing for greater generalisations from the findings.

Keywords: Defence documents; Hostile takeover bids; Impression management; Business communication; Corporation reports; Disclosure of information; Consolidation and merger of corporations; Discourse analysis, Narrative; Corporate image (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 16 pages
Date: 2010-12
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Published in: British Accounting Review, 42(4) 2010-12

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10197/2898 Open Access version, 2010 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Rhetoric, argument and impression management in hostile takeover defence documents (2010)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rru:oapubs:10197/2898

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Open Access publications from Research Repository, University College Dublin
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Joseph Greene ().