Annual Reports of the FT30 Index Members: Deployment of Apologetic Strategies in CEO and Chairman ‘s Statements

The study proves the presence and articulation of apologetic discourse in CEO and Chairman’s Statements is closely related to companies’ financial performance. In particular, companies engage extensively in apologetic discourse when they are underperforming, and less frequently when they are performing well. A comparison between ACRs issued respectively in 2000, the year before corporate accounting scandals and September 11, and in 2009, a time of crisis in the markets worldwide, is carried out in the article. The foundations for the study are to be found in the findings of Ware and Linkugel (1973) that identified four different strategies in apologetic discourse. In recent years a growing interest for image and reputation management in the corporate domain, coupled with an increasing awareness of its underlying rhetorical nature, has made the study of apologetic discourse particularly interesting for business communication scholars.