03 Mar MORE TIME TO STAY VIRTUAL; SAYING ‘NYET’ TO VODKA
Welcome to this week’s business and media intelligence update.
MORE TIME TO STAY VIRTUAL
It’s official: Australian listed companies will be able to continue hosting AGMs virtually – for a limited time, at least.
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), announced on Thursday that it has granted relief to allow additional time for certain companies to hold virtual-only meetings, such as AGMs.
All listed companies will now have the option to hold virtual-only meetings for an additional two months, until 31 May 2022. Unlisted companies will have the option until 30 June 2022.
This is good news for those companies unsure about pandemic restrictions but may not go down all that well with a growing number of shareholders who argue directors and senior managers may be using virtual meetings to manage dissenting voices.
Read more about this announcement here.
SAYING ‘NYET’ TO VODKA
Say you’re a company that wants to signal that it’s opposed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Why not boycott vodka, the most iconic of Russian products?
Well, that’s exactly what BWS and Dan Murphy’s did this week, in a clever PR move that garnered them headlines everywhere, from to the Australian Financial Review to The Daily Mail.
Then again … Russian-made vodka brands comprise just three per cent of vodka consumption in Europe, and a mere 1.3 per cent of vodka imports in the US.
In fact, the most popular vodka brands are not Russian, such as Absolut (produced by Pernod Ricard in Åhus, Sweden), Smirnoff and Stolichnaya (produced by the SPI Group in Riga, Latvia), Grey Goose (produced by Bacardi, in Gensac, France), and a favourite of some of the team, Tito’s (produced by Fifth Generation in Austin, Texas).
In other words, don’t be surprised if most of your favourite vodka brands are still widely available in stores, despite the much-publicised ban.
In reality, if you really want to protest Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, you may want to look at giving up driving your car, since Russia is the world’s third largest producer of petroleum, making up a total of 11 per cent of global production in 2020.
Or you might also want to give up bread: Russia is the world’s largest producer of wheat, exporting US$8.14 billion of the product in 2019.
THE DOs AND DON’Ts OF SAYING ADIOS
The current wave of resignations across the globe – the so-called Great Resignation – has seen millions of people take to their keyboards for a final departure email – some good, some bad and some outright cringeworthy.
But there’s a right and wrong way to tackle it, according to Wall Street Journal’s Rachel Feintzeig.
In short: be gracious, express thanks and mention a few career milestones – without being a brag.
And leave the passive-aggressive bridge burners out…
But while it might feel cathartic for employees to bid farewell to their colleagues, experts are warning employers that goodbye emails can actually be contagious.
To help balance out the departures, company executives have started encouraging new recruits to send introductory emails.
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