Many corporate Web sites provide financial information, including financial statements, as well as other information about companies’ status and progress. As an institutional investor, you are thinking of investing in one of the following firms: Diageo (www.diageo.com), the premium drinks firm; Vivendi (www.vivendi.com), a French telecom; Grupo Carso (www.gcarso.com.mx), a major Mexican retailing conglomerate; and SK Telecom (www.sktelecom.com), the largest wireless communication services provider in South Korea. Look up each firm’s corporate Web site. Based on the information provided, answer the following questions:
a. How would you rate the transparency of each firm?
b. How inclined are you to invest in each firm, based on the information provided? Justify your answer.
c. In terms of transparency and investor-oriented information, which site is best?
d. Based on the best site, what recommendations would you make to the firm that owns the weakest site to improve its transparency and attract investors?