Table of Contents

Introduction.........................................................................................................3

Problem Area......................................................................................................................................... 4

Hypothesis.............................................................................................................................................. 4

Problem Statement.............................................................................................................................. 4

Theory of Science................................................................................................5

Hermeneutics......................................................................................................................................... 5

Positivism................................................................................................................................................ 8

Methodological Approach..................................................................................9

Approaches to Research: Deduction and Induction..................................................................9

Data......................................................................................................................................................... 10

Critique of Data................................................................................................................................... 10

Theory................................................................................................................12

Theoretical Approach....................................................................................................................... 12

An Overview of Genre Theory........................................................................................................ 13

The development of genre theory...............................................................................................................13

Three different approaches to genre: the Sydney, American and British ESP Schools.......15

The British ESP Approach................................................................................................................ 18

Genre colonies...................................................................................................................................................... 20

The Evolution of a Genre.................................................................................................................. 24

A Definition of Genre......................................................................................................................... 26

Crisis Communication....................................................................................................................... 27

Analysis..............................................................................................................29

Analysis of the 2002 Annual Reports from Novozymes and DONG Energy.....................29

Reporting genre features................................................................................................................................ 30

Promotional genre features........................................................................................................................... 33

Part conclusion.................................................................................................................................................... 37

1

Analysis of the DONG Energy 2011 Annual Reports from Novozymes and DONG Energy.................................................................................................................................................... 38

Letters from the CEOs.......................................................................................................................................39

The social context of the 2011 annual report genre...........................................................................41

Part Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................... 43

Discussion..........................................................................................................45

Conclusion.........................................................................................................47

Bibliography......................................................................................................48

Appendix: CD with annual reports..................................................................51

2

Introduction

Annual reports have been around for a long time, longer than a century depending on your

definition of annual report. However, recent decades have seen annual reports change and change

again to meet the demands of both regulations and stakeholders1. They have come to include more

information and, in the case of many larger companies, can now be accessed online – indeed the

Internet itself is relatively new. This development has in turn greatly increased the accessibility of

annual reports to stakeholders, now allowing anyone with any level of interest in the company an

insight into how it conducts its business. The importance of a ‘green report’ has also emerged,

requiring more attention on companies’ environmental considerations. Furthermore, how companies

conduct themselves as a business, both morally and ethically, has also become an important factor

in annual reports s a result of easier access and an increased attention on social responsibility. The

growing importance of both of these factors for annual reports is considerable, resulting in a more

promotional approach being adopted by companies: promoting their green values, their

considerations for the future, what has gone right and what has gone wrong. The Letter from the

CEO or Chairman is a prime example of how the purpose of annual reports is not strictly to report.

Such a letter is now a major component of any annual report, the actual numbers, figures and

statistics not being the focus in that particular section. It is precisely because of all these changes

and because of the increasing demands of what an annual report must accomplish, that it becomes

interesting to analyse it as a genre and how it has evolved. This project will use a case study of

annual reports from Novozymes and DONG Energy as a means to do so. Both companies are

interesting to analyse due to their size and the fact that they are based in Denmark. Being based in

Denmark provides the opportunity to focus the analysis within a Danish context, and the size of the

companies requires them to be very attentive to e.g. environmental concerns. Smaller companies to

not receive the media exposure or attention from stakeholders that larger company do and larger

companies cannot afford to ignore key concerns of their stakeholders, since it could quickly escalate

into a crisis.

Problem Area

With the increased demands of what an annual report must accomplish for a company, the annual

report as a genre has to accommodate these demands. Since an annual report is inherently a

1 A stakeholder is any person or organisation with a stake in the company, e.g. an interest in their environmental impact. While shareholders are also stakeholders, stakeholders are not necessarily shareholders.

3

reporting genre, this creates a problematic situation in terms of meeting the demands of being more

promotional. Since the annual report genre is not immediately equipped to handle this, changes

must occur as a result. While the genre may only change slightly every year, the changes

accumulate to form an evolution of the genre. Given that different companies structure their annual

reports differently, this evolution might be chaotic, but also result in a more unified genre with a

clear communicative purpose.

My own preconceptions give rise to the assumption that this evolution, when seen over a period of

several years through a case study, can be identified and analysed in terms of what has changed and

why, which is illustrated in the following hypothesis.

Hypothesis

Annual reports exhibit a range of characteristics that define it as a genre, which will have

evolved over a period of several years in a response to changing and increasing demands of

what it must accomplish, resulting in a different or clearer communicative purpose for the

genre.

In the attempt to either falsify or verify this hypothesis, annual reports from Novozymes and DONG

Energy will be analysed with emphasis on an interpretive approach, each including a report from

both 2002 and 2011.

To examine this hypothesis further, the following problem statement will be addressed.

Problem Statement

To what extent can it be argued that the annual report genre has evolved over the

course of nine years, as a result of specific changes in response to increased demands of

what the genre has to accomplish for a company?

4

Theory of Science

This section will present the theory of science relevant for this project, with both hermeneutics and

positivism being necessary to clarify. Hermeneutics is an approach that addresses the interpretation

of meaning, whereas social constructivism addresses how concepts and meaning itself are socially

constructed.

Hermeneutics

The hermeneutic approach adopted in this project will be based on Hans-Georg Gadamer’s

philosophical hermeneutics. The key concepts for this approach are pre-understandings and

prejudice, which form the basis for interpreting meaning, as explained by Nørgaard:

“That a manifestation of life2 appears to us as an articulation of meaning, is only possible due to us encountering this manifestation with a pre-understanding, i.e. a meaningful expectation of meaning.”

(2003, 186 – his emphasis)3

Any given ‘manifestation of life’ can only be attributed meaning, in so far as a pre-understanding

exists to give rise to ‘a meaningful expectation’ of what this meaning is. If there is no pre-

understanding of a given manifestation, an interpretation thereof would simply not make sense,

because there is no basis for such an interpretation to take place. As a consequence of this,

prejudices are also inseparable from meaning, since pre-understandings in turn are based upon

prejudice. However, it is critically important to be aware, that prejudices should not be seen as

necessarily, nor inherently, negative or positive in this regard. Rather, prejudices are a resource,

without which pre-understandings could not exist (Nørgaard 2003). It is important to be aware of

these pre-understandings and prejudices within hermeneutics for the above reasons alone, but they

are furthermore essential for interpreting meaning. This is best illustrated by the hermeneutic circle:

2 This term comes from Wilhelm Dilthey, who argues that the subject matter of the historical and social sciences is the human mind, as it manifests or ‘objectifies’ itself in languages and literatures, actions, and institutions – exemplified by the term ‘manifestation of life’ (Encylopædia Britannica “Wilhelm Dilthey”, 2011, para. 6).3 ”At en livsytring for os fremtræder som en artikulation af mening, er kun muligt i og med, vi møder denne ytring med en forforståelse, dvs. en meningsfuld forventning om mening.”

5

(Nørgaard 2003, 185)

Interpreting meaning through the use of existing pre-understandings and prejudices is done by

viewing them as part of a whole, and it is the relationship between the part and the whole that is the

essence of the hermeneutic circle. The circle illustrates how the whole only makes sense through its

parts, but the parts also have to be viewed in the context of the whole. Specifically, the pre-

understandings constitute the parts, and the parts give rise to a new understanding of the whole. The

whole will eventually become part of a new pre-understanding through reforming it, thus

completing the circle as the pre-understanding changes how the parts are understood. The

ontological4 and epistemological5 axes included in the figure shows this dialectical relationship

between the pre-understanding and the understanding and the part and the whole respectively. To

elaborate further, ontology is “[…]the study of being in general, or of what applies neutrally to

everything that is real” (Encyclopædia Britannica “Ontology (metaphysics)” 2011, para. 1). This

specifically relates to hermeneutics and the above axis by illustrating, that what neutrally applies to

the part and the whole, i.e. what they are, is expressed through the pre-understanding and the

understanding. Epistemology is “[…] the study of the nature, origin, and limits of

4 ”The ontological axis signifies the understanding subject’s hermeneutic circle.” (Nørgaard 2003, 185 – his italics)5 ”The epistemological axis can be described as a perspective, where focus is on the object of understanding.” (Ibid. – his italics)

6

human knowledge” (Encyclopædia Britannica “Epistemology (philosophy)” 2011, para. 1).

Epistemology thus expresses how the knowledge possessed by the understanding subject, e.g.

myself, can be understood as the part and the whole. Note however, that Nørgaard’s illustration is

not a model to be followed, nor is any illustration of the hermeneutic circle. It merely serves as an

illustration of how the hermeneutic circle functions. In extension of this, it is important to clarify

that while the concept of a hermeneutic ‘circle’ might suggest a beginning and an end to the process

of interpreting meaning, i.e. one starts at a point of understanding, pre-understanding, the part or the

whole, this would be erroneous. Gulddal and Møller elaborate:

“This process is not something to be avoided or brought to a finish in a definitive, ‘objective’ understanding; on the contrary it implies that the interpretation […] becomes an infinite task.”

(1999, 20)6

It is thus important to understand, that the dialectical movement between the part and the whole and

between the pre-understanding and the understanding is an ongoing, dynamic process. The

interpretation of an ‘objective’ truth to a given manifestation, then, is merely approached in an

infinite approximation.

This project is extensively influenced by this hermeneutic approach, since it is based on a pre-

understanding of genre evolution: that given a period of several years, the genre of annual reports

would evolve due to changes in the demands of what it has to accomplish. This then lead to an

analysis of the parts, i.e. the 2002 annual reports from Novozymes and DONG Energy, which then

lead to a new understanding of what the communicative purposes of the genre was, as well as how

the genre was both reporting and promotional. This then became the new whole, which gave rise to

a new pre-understanding of what the 2011 annual reports would contain, e.g. to what extent the

social contexts would change how the annual reports were written. This then lead once more

looking at the parts, i.e. the 2011 etc. This example illustrates the hermeneutic approach of this

project.

6 ”(d)enne proces er ikke noget, der skal undgås eller bringes til afslutning i en definitiv, ’objektiv’ forståelse; tværtimod indebærer den, at fortolkningen […] bliver en uendelig opgave.”

7

Positivism

Based on the thoughts of French philosopher Auguste Comte, positivism has two essential

affirmations:

“[…]that all knowledge regarding matters of fact is based on the “positive” data of

experience[…]” and

“[…]that beyond the realm of fact is that of pure logic and pure mathematics[…]”

(Encyclopædia Britannica “Positivism (philosophy)”, 2011, para. 5).

The emphasis of positivists is thus strictly on what can be observed and objective experiences, an

approach that is especially prevalent within marketing communication. While annual reports are not

typical marketing communication, the influence of promotional features requires the mention of

positivism here. While it could be argued that the analysis strictly observes the content of the

annual reports, i.e. lexico-grammatical features and textual organisation, there is also a great deal of

interpretation in determining how and why certain features can be considered to represent an

evolution of the genre; this is even more pertinent given the importance of the social contexts. This

is simply not compatible with the objectivity sought by a positivist approach. This interpretation is

necessary, because the annual reports are not strictly numbers and figures, but a promotion of the

company as well.

8

Methodological Approach

Approaches to Research: Deduction and Induction

When doing any kind of research, there are two primary methods that can be used as an approach:

induction and deduction. A deductive approach applies a broad theory to the particular data being

researched. Through this process the theory is narrowed down to be more specific, thus allowing the

theory to fit to a particular set of data. As a result, the research undergoes a process of moving from

the generalised to the specific aspects of the data, using the theory to deduct a logical correlation

between the two and arrive at a conclusion. This approach ensures a high validity of the knowledge

and information gained, but conversely there is a lack of new knowledge gained as well. The

inductive approach on the other hand, focuses on the experience of data, e.g. through observation,

from which general descriptions can be put forth. These general descriptions will then lead to

explanations and possible theoretical definitions, i.e. new knowledge and information is gained.

However, the validity of this information cannot be viewed as completely reliable or definite,

precisely because it is new data (Birkler 2005, 66-71).

The research in this project is based on a case study of annual reports from DONG Energy and

Novozymes, one from 2002 and one from 2011 for each company, working from the hypothesis

that annual reports will exhibit a range of characteristics that define it as genre and that this genre

will have evolved over the course of the last nine years. Case studies can be difficult to analyse with

an exclusively deductive or inductive approach, since the researcher will always influence the

selection of data, the structure of the analysis and the choice of words chosen to describe the

specific aspects analysed. Flyvbjerg (1988, 6-7) argues that as a result of this, it is impossible to

conduct a case study with only an inductive or deductive approach. Furthermore, “[…]pure

induction without prior theory might prevent the researcher from benefiting from existing theory,

just as pure deduction might prevent the development of new and useful theory” (Carson et al. 2001,

99). This project can be considered to make use of a deductive approach in order to establish a

theoretical framework for analysing genre, i.e. narrowing down the broad concept of genre theory to

a workable theory applicable to annual reports. However, an inductive approach is used to interpret

the findings and understand how the specific genre of annual reports has possibly evolved. A

hermeneutical approach is also taken here, as the analysis will first focus on describing the annual

9

report as a genre in 2002, based on the assumption that both reports will share similar traits of the

genre. This will then form new knowledge which serves as a starting point for analysing the 2011

reports and how the genre has evolved.

DataThis project’s data consists of two annual reports for both DONG Energy and Novozymes, one

being from 2002 and the other 2011. The two companies have been chosen in order to represent two

large companies that both operate in Denmark and are based in Denmark, but sell entirely different

products. This first and foremost separates the content found within the annual reports, one being a

bank and the other a biotechnical company, allowing the analysis to focus on similar traits of the

annual report genre, without a possible muddling of data within a sub-genre of e.g. banking or the

financial sector. Changes more specific to those sub-genres can still be brought up, if relevant, in

relation to the differences between the 2002 and 2011 reports. Reports were chosen from those two

years for two reasons. First of all, the year 2002 is near as far back as annual reports are stored

online by many companies; some companies go further back some start later. While it is certainly

possible to go further back and find physically archived reports, going too far back will mean an

almost certain extent of large changes simply due to the difference in time. This is no less an

evolution of a genre, but it becomes harder to notice smaller, gradual changes that reveal how a

genre has evolved over time, as opposed to, when viewed through a lens of e.g. several decades, a

massive leap in evolution all at once. Secondly, from 2002 to 2011 the Internet, now a major

facilitator of information affecting and shaping the world we live in, has changed a lot: there was no

Facebook in 2002 for example. This allows a period of nine years to still be significant for analysis,

as opposed to reports 20 years or 25 years apart, due to the change in the social contexts genres

exist within during that period.

Critique of Data

Due to annual reports being a rapidly evolving genre, it is not possible to make broad conclusions as

to how the annual report genre has evolved as a whole. There may be important differences between

how an annual report is constructed between certain companies, as well as how annual reports differ

between countries, due to a difference in how the genre has evolved or even legislation. However, a

10

genre is not a genre if some similar traits and characteristics are not shared, thus the results of the

analysis are still valid in determining how the annual report genre has evolved, despite possible

deviations that might be found in other countries or particular companies.

11

Theory

Theoretical Approach

Different data calls for different approaches, but since this project focuses on discourse analysis,

primarily using the concept of genre, it follows that a discursive approach is taken. Nonetheless, the

approach I end up taking is eclectic to a certain extent, in so far as I draw upon different traditions

of genre theory within the human sciences, to explain and define genre for the purposes of

analysing annual reports. These traditions are: Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday

2003, Halliday and Hasan 1985, and Christie and Martin 2005), American New Rhetoric (Freedman

and Medway 1994 and Miller 1984) and British ESP (Bhatia 2004 and Swales 1990).

12

An Overview of Genre Theory

In order to fully understand the concept of genre and its function as an approach to discourse, it is

first necessary to describe how the concept has evolved. This is especially pertinent in relation to

the different traditions that exist within genre theory. Without an understanding of these different

traditions, it is difficult to draw upon genre theory in the first place, and in turn it is difficult to

understand these different traditions without the context of how genre has evolved to begin with.

The development of genre theoryGenre theory is referred to by Bhatia (2004, 8-11) as having emerged when scholars began to focus

on patterns of organisation in written discourse. Prior to this focus on patterns of organisation,

discourse studies were primarily interested in lexico-grammar7:

“In all these preliminary attempts8, one may notice two concerns: an effort to focus on the surface level of specialized texts, and an interest in the description of functional variation in discourse by focusing on statistically significant features of lexis and grammar.”

(Ibid., 5)

Such features can include the use of en-participles and nominals, but regardless of the specific

features being analysed, the emphasis was on clauses, i.e. larger patterns of organisation within the

text were not the focus. As discourse studies developed however, there was an increased focus on

“developing a relationship between the choice of lexico-grammar and specific forms of discourse

organization” (Ibid. 7). The focus thus began to shift from a clause and sentence level to the text as

a whole, the cohesion of it and comparing and contrasting with similar texts – i.e. there was an

increased focus on the context. Context can refer to the context of the text itself, e.g. how different

parts of the text relate to each other and their purpose in constructing the text as a whole. However,

context can also refer to the much broader influences on the text, e.g. the professional discipline

(see p. 20) it is situated within. Both forms of context are important to a genre based view of

discourse:

7 The difference between grammar and lexico-grammar is primarily the explicit attribution of importance to vocabulary, along with syntax and morphology, when using the term lexico-grammar.8 ‘Preliminary attempts’ refers to Bhatia’s description of several scholars’ early work with language analyses in the 1960s and early 1970s.

13

(Bhatia 2004, 19)9

This four-space model illustrates different views of discourse and the spaces in which they operate.

The context of the text itself is found within the ‘textual space’ and the context of a professional

discipline is within the ‘socio-cognitive space’, with discourse as genre situated between both in an

overlapping space that Bhatia calls the ‘tactical space’. A broad definition of genre is offered by

Hyland (2002, 21):

“Genre refers to abstract, socially recognised ways of using language. It is based on the assumptions that the features of a similar group of texts depend on the social context of their creation and use, and that those features can be described in a way that relates a text to others like it and to the choices and constraints acting on text producers.”10

9 Both the pedagogical and the socio-critical perspectives are explained on p. 1710 His italics marked with bold.

14

However, before going any further in describing the approach to genre theory used in this project, it

is first necessary to explain the three different traditions found within genre theory:

“One may identify three rather distinct frameworks developed and used for analysing genre. These are popularly known as the American school of genre studies […]; the Sydney school of systemic-functional approach to genre […]; and the British ESP11

school […].”

(Bhatia 2004, 10)

It is necessary to clarify the differences between these three traditions, or frameworks, as a result of

how genre theory has evolved: “[…] because of its fast-growing, controversial nature, genre

scholarship has been a complicated movement to understand in a number of respects” (Hyon 1996,

694). Thus, without an understanding of what characterises the three frameworks and how they

differ, it can quickly become complicated to effectively use genre as an analytical tool. However, it

should also be noted that the different frameworks overlap as well, and using one framework does

not discount the other two.

Three different approaches to genre: the Sydney, American and British ESP Schools

I will begin by explaining the Sydney School, which will serve as a starting point to discern what

sets the three approaches apart, how they are similar and, most importantly, how this project’s

approach to genre is derived from them. The Sydney School takes a Systemic Functional Approach

to genre, as pointed out by Bhatia above. Systemic functional linguistics (SFL) was developed by

M.A.K. Halliday and can broadly be said to focus on the relationship between language and how it

functions in social settings, i.e. the social context (Ibid., 696-697). Key to this approach are the

concepts of ‘field’, ‘tenor’ and ‘mode’, which together

“encompass[es] the contextual parameters of the text: who are acting in the given semiotic encounter, what they are enacting, and how the enactment is semioticized (the tenor, field and mode of a systemic theory). These concepts in turn enable us to

11 English for specific purposes.

15

introduce and operate with the mediating category of "register" as the concrete manifestation of intertextuality […]” 12

(Halliday 2003, 362)

Tenor then, is the participants in the conversation or in the text, but ‘acting’ also includes what they

are saying and their relative status or power within the text. Field and ‘what they are enacting’

refers to the subject matter in the text, i.e. what topic is being discussed or what activity is

undertaken. Finally, mode and ‘how the enactment is semioticized’ refers to how the

communication is taking place, what is the channel of communication, e.g. a newspaper article, a

journal article, a conversation etc., as well as the role of the language, e.g. is it persuasive or

defensive (Christie and Martin 2005, 12). The concept of register serves as an umbrella term for

these three features, but furthermore also as a ‘mediating category’, which helps explain how the

parameters function as a whole and form the intertextuality of the text13. Hyon (1996, 697) remarks

that “although register rather than genre has been Halliday’s central construct for analyzing

language, some of his Australian students, most notably Jim Martin, have developed theories of

genre within a systemic functional framework”. The intertextual nature of register matches the

importance of context for genre, which is why theories of genre can be adopted to a SFL approach.

The SFL approach, according to Hyland (2002, 21-22), “stresses the purposeful, interactive, and

sequential character of different genres and the ways language is systematically linked to context

through patterns of lexico-grammatical and rhetorical features”. This can be argued to constitute

the core feature of the SFL approach, i.e. it is heavily focused on the features that are found within

the text:

“Basically, Halliday’s theory systematically links language to its contexts of use, studying how language varies from one context to another and, within that variation, the underlying patterns which organise texts so they are culturally and socially recognised as performing particular functions”

(Ibid., 22)

It is critical to note however, that this focus on text does not eclipse the role of context, which was

previously established to be central to genre theory. Rather, the importance of context is revealed

12 His bold markings.13 See p. 19 for further elaboration on register, tenor, field and mode.

16

through the analysis of the textual features, i.e. the tool for unveiling how context shapes a genre is

the textual features such as lexico-grammar and rhetoric. This is a significantly distinguishing

feature of the SFL approach compared to the American School, as “there is a far greater emphasis

by the Sydney School scholars on explicating textual features, using Hallidayan schemes of

linguistic analysis, while North American work has focused on unpacking complex relations

between text and context” (Freedman and Medway 1994, 9). Hyland (2002, 21) elaborates further,

stating that the focus “is mainly on the rhetorical contexts in which genres are employed rather

than detailed analyses of text elements”. The British ESP School lies somewhere in between the

Sydney and American Schools, still taking a linguistic approach, similar to SFL, but also

recognising the importance of the context:

“A genre comprises a class of communicative events, the members of which share some set of communicative purposes. These purposes are recognized by the expert members of the parent discourse community, and thereby constitute the rationale for the genre. This rationale shapes the schematic structure of the discourse and influences and constrains choice of content and style.”

(Swales 1990, 58)

The context is primarily restricted to the discipline in question, i.e. a talk of discourse communities,

whereas the American School views context in a broader social sense, some scholars using

ethnographic methods, rather than linguistic methods, of analysing a text (Hyon 1996, 696).

It is clear that there are significant differences between the three approaches, as well as similarities.

However, given that the analysis will focus on the relatively narrow context of annual reports,

compared to the broad social contexts that the American School operates with, the British ESP

School or Sydney SFL approach are best suited for my purposes. However, since annual reports is

also a relatively new genre and the focus of my analysis will be on how it has evolved, it is

important that my approach is mindful of a broader context than what SFL offers through

comparing and contrasting different textual features. The passage of time between the different

annual reports makes it difficult for an SFL approach to draw conclusions as to what constitutes the

annual report genre, since the social context will have changed a lot. The British ESP approach

then, is best suited for my analysis, which Bhatia’s four-space model of discourse (Bhatia 2004, 19)

can further elaborate on. It is important to note both the ‘socio-critical’ and the ‘pedagogical’

perspectives included in the four-space model. Essentially the model suggests that there are two

17

major perspectives on analysing written discourse: a pedagogic perspective, i.e. a focus on the

textual features in a text, and how a knowledge base can be constructed with an aim to understand

and ultimately teach a given kind of discourse. The other option is to take a socio-critical

perspective, focusing on the role of a given kind of discourse within a much broader social context,

with less of an emphasis on identifying the textual features of the discourse. The American School

can be argued to emphasise a socio-critical perspective, while the Sydney School emphasises a

pedagogical perspective, though both still operate within the tactical space of genre. Bhatia (2004,

21) argues however, that there is a third perspective, what he calls the ‘generic perspective’. This

perspective will now be explained as part of a working British ESP approach, that can be used as a

tool for my analysis, as well as help establish a definition of genre relevant for this project.

The British ESP Approach

Bhatia’s concept of a third perspective is essentially situated between the pedagogic and socio-

critical perspectives:

“[…] there can be a third perspective as well, that is a generic perspective. This will look at discourse essentially as genre within a socio-cognitive space, and will pay some attention to textual features of language use, especially to textualization of some specific features of lexico-grammar, and textual organization, on the one hand, and to certain features of social practices, especially those related to professional practices, on the other.”14

(Ibid.)

The generic perspective is essentially a middle ground between the American School and the

Sydney School. The benefit of this perspective then, and subsequently the British ESP approach, is

that focus on the textual features are maintained, but “without getting completely absorbed by

formal properties of textual space” (Ibid., 22). Similarly, the importance of the social context is still

important to this perspective, and though the focus is mainly on professional practices, which

annual reports belong to, they are viewed “within a broader context of social practices, processes

and procedures, without getting lost in broadly configured socio-cultural realities” (Ibid.).

Specifically in terms of an analytical model, this means I will be making use, to some extent, of

14 My bold marking.

18

SFL’s concepts of tenor, field and mode, which were described earlier, to identify lexico-

grammatical features and textual organisation, i.e. the textual features of language:

Tenor concerns the relationship between participants, including social roles and status, i.e.

hierarchic or non-hierarchic roles, and who or what the agent is, e.g. the company in an

annual report or alternatively the CEO15.

Field concerns what the discourse is about, but is already determined to a large extent by the

genre being analysed in this project, i.e. annual reports. Thus the subject discussed will

certainly be the company, which has produced the report, and their performance over the

preceding year.

Mode is concerned with what role the language is performing. This is where the primary

data is to be found in annual reports, since it includes textual organisation and lexico-

grammatical features, e.g. modality, the purpose of the text i.e. is it argumentative or

persuasive, the tense used etc. However, in this case some aspects of mode are pre-

determined, since the annual reports being analysed are written discourse. This entails, for

instance, that aspects such as rhythm and intonation are absent, whereas punctuation and

complete sentences are mandatory.

(Halliday and Hasan 1985)

Using the generic approach above, the British ESP School defines genres as ‘communicative

events’, which are critical in relation to social practices and thus the social context:

“Genres are recognizable communicative events, characterized by a set of communicative

purposes identified and mutually understood by members of the professional or academic

community in which they regularly occur.” (Bhatia 2004, 23)

“The principal criterial feature that turns a collection of communicative events into a genre

is some shared set of communicative purposes.” (Swales 1990, 46)

15 Chief Executive Officer: the person ultimately responsible for how a company operates and performs.

19

These communicative events form the social practices present within. Together, the textual features

and social practices “have integrity of their own, which is often identified with reference to a

combination of textual, discursive and contextual factors” (Bhatia 2004, 23).

However, communicative events also bring up another point within the British ESP School, one

critical to genre evolution: the overlapping of genres. The shared set of communicative purposes

can change over time. In the case of annual reports, these changes have happened rapidly and often,

thus leading to intermingling communicative purposes across different genres – what Bhatia terms

‘genre colonies’.

Genre colonies

Genre colonies are groups of genres that share similar communicative purposes, but not necessarily

respecting the boundaries of their respective disciplines or domains. Disciplines are closely

connected to register:

“Closely related to registers we find disciplines, which invariably display predominant characteristics of the subject matter that they represent. However, the two are not synonymous. One represents the content, whereas the other represents the language associated with it.”16

(Ibid., 30)

A genre discipline, then, is indicative of the content associated with a given type of text, e.g. within

the discipline of business one can expect to find business related content, whether it be public

statements, annual reports or information regarding a new product launch. The register represents

the type of language associated with said content, e.g. within content associated with the discipline

of law it is expectable to find a legal register. In extension of this, domains are disciplines that are

linked closely together:

“In the case of law, for instance, we can identify a number of professional legal activities, such as lawyer-client consultation, drafting of wills, drawing contracts, conveyance of property, drafting affidavits17 etc., each of which individually may require the legal professional to participate in the construction, interpretation and use

16 His italics marked with bold.17 An affidavit is a written, sworn statement of fact made voluntarily, e.g. by someone under oath in a trial (Encyclopædia Britannica 2012).

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of a particular system of genres […] However, all of these professional activities taken together may constitute the disciplinary domain of law, which may require the [use] of a larger set of professional legal genres […].”

(Bhatia 2004, 54)

Each of those activities makes use of a legal register and all of them belong to the discipline of law,

but each activity may be a genre unto itself as well as necessitate a use of other genres, what Bhatia

refers to as a ‘larger set of professional legal genres’ in this example. This is due to the fact that

genres can cut across different disciplines:

(Ibid., 31)

This illustration shows how a genre, such as a text book, can simultaneously be found within the

disciplines of business, law and science. Regardless of the discipline, the genre still follows its

communicative purpose and maintains its integrity, i.e. shared textual, discursive and contextual

factors. However, depending on the discipline in question, the register and content remain within

the boundary of the domain, i.e. a textbook about law belongs to the textbook genre, but its content

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and register will be that of law. With this in mind, it is now possible to clarify what constitutes a

genre colony.

In extension of genres are super genres, which “[incorporate] a constellation of individually

recognized genres that display strong similarities across disciplinary and professional boundaries”

(Bhatia 2004, 57). However, the term super genre implies a level of cohesion that is not necessarily

present. Genres belonging to a super genre may or may not follow the same discipline or domain

boundaries, and as a result super genres are better termed as genre colonies, emphasising a similar

set of broad communicative purposes, which especially may differ if a genre serves more than one

communicative purpose, as opposed to shared disciplines or boundaries. The concept of genre

colonies allows different genres to be viewed at varying levels of generalisation:

(Ibid., 59)

This figure illustrates the varying levels a genre can be viewed at. Of particular importance for

analysing annual reports is the genre colony itself, which specifies the general communicative

purpose. Similarly the genre level itself is crucial in identifying specific communicative purposes,

of which there may be several; the Letter from the CEO, for example, may have a different

communicative purpose than the rest, or other parts, of the annual report. The several levels of sub-

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genres are important to be aware of in terms of understanding the different genre levels, but are not

otherwise important for analysing annual reports. The medium is already determined, i.e. a printed

or online text, though there may be variations in the product; once again using the example of the

Letter from the CEO, it is conceivable that the product, a personal message18 from the CEO, varies

from the product of other parts of the report, e.g. the hard facts and numbers a statistical product.

Participants, like medium, is however already highly determined, in so far as annual reports are

directed at stakeholders. These stakeholders may be very diverse and have stakes in vastly different

areas, e.g. some care about the company’s green profile while others are shareholders interested in

their financial success, but in the scope of an annual report they are all participants. This is not to

say that there cannot be differences in participants in certain areas, but merely that it is not

expected.

It is also worth pointing out, that Bhatia (Ibid., 62 and 83) identifies annual reports as belonging to

both the promotional genre colony (e.g. including the advertisement and sales promotion genres)

and the reporting genre colony (e.g. including performance reports, finance reports and progress

reports) . This indicates that annual reports have become hybridised, which is a result of genre

colonies inherently implying the act of colonisation:

“Colonization as a process thus involves invasion of the integrity of one genre by another genre or genre convention, often leading to the creation of a hybrid form, which eventually shares some of its genre characteristics with the one that influenced it in the first place.”

(Ibid., 58)

The analysis of the annual reports in this project will reveal to what extent promotional or reporting

traits are used, e.g. a use of typical promotional features such as product appraisal or reporting

features such as performance reports. However, the fact that annual reports have features of both is

strongly indicative of a hybrid genre, one which in this case can be viewed as belonging to two

different genre colonies. Furthermore, given the reciprocal nature of a hybrid genre, it can be very

difficult to ascertain at which point one genre colonised another and eventually became intertwined

and formed a hybrid genre. It is an aspect worth considering in the analysis, but such developments

18 Letters from the CEO, or Letters from the Chairman, are constructed to appear as a personal message from the highest authority within a company, though are often not actually written by the CEO. It is an important distinction to be aware of, even though the personal aspect of the letter, constructed by a company’s PR department or indeed possibly written by the CEO, retains its personal nature.

23

are likely to have occurred through trial and error, as well as through reiteration of an annual report

or features of it during the process writing and constructing it as a text. Thus, the details as to which

genre invaded the other first may not be immediately apparent or discernable through the finished

product. However, a gradual, or alternatively sudden, development or evolution of the genre will be

visible in finished annual reports, especially when different reports are separated by a longer period

of time, i.e. not from one year to the next. It is worth pointing out, however, that there has been a

tendency within genre evolution where advertising is the invading part (see p. 25). This raises an

interesting question regarding how a genre evolves, specifically how often it occurs and to what

extent it evolves, which in turn influences how likely a hybrid genre is to form and evolve. This will

be the focus of the following section.

The Evolution of a Genre

While the main analytical tool for analysing annual reports will be the British ESP approach to

genre, it is beneficial to draw upon both the Sydney School and American School when establishing

how a genre evolves. Freedman and Medway (1994, 9) argue that the SFL approach views genres as

static and, if not static, then how can they be made static and taught19. This point is arguably valid to

a certain extent, as illustrated by the following definition of genre within SFL:

“In Australian educational linguistics, genres have been defined as staged, goal-oriented social processes […], a definition which flags the way in which most genres take more than a single phase to unfold, the sense of frustration or incompletion that is felt when phases don't unfold as expected or planned, and the fact that genres are addressed (i.e. formulated with readers and listeners in mind), whether or not the intended audience is immediately present to respond.”

(Christie and Martin 2005, 13)

Christie and Martin specifically highlight that a genre is not immediately formed, thus they are not

static, but arguably also imply that a genre will eventually unfold completely and subsequently

made to be static. There is no specific point in time or point in a genre’s evolution given for when it

becomes static, however, and the essential part for the purposes of this discussion, is that genres do

19 The teaching of genres has a prominent role in much of the scholarly literature referenced in the theory, specifically in relation second languages, but has so far gone without mention. It is only mentioned here, because the quote specifically highlights teaching, but since the focus of this paper is not how genres are taught, it is not an aspect of genre theory that will be discussed further.

24

seem to evolve, according to SFL, through ‘staged, goal-oriented processes’. The specific goal-

oriented processes are the key to understanding the evolution of a genre. For a genre to evolve, it

must have a reason for doing so, there must be a purpose for evolving, a goal to achieve. Such goals

can be found in the social contexts of a genre, as suggested by Freedman and Medway (1994, 9),

who furthermore emphasise that genres are dynamic. In addition, Miller (1984 in Ibid., 36) argues

that “genres change, evolve and decay; the number of genres current in any society is

indeterminable and depends upon the complexity and diversity of the society”. Once again social

contexts are mentioned, though primarily in relation to the number of genres found within a given

society. However, the implication of the social context giving rise to genres changing, evolving and

decaying is comparable to the goal-oriented processes mentioned earlier. Similarly, drawing once

more upon the concept of genre colonies and hybridisation, the importance of social context for

genre evolution is supported further:

“Of all the genres which have invaded the territorial integrity of many professional and academic genres, ‘advertising’ clearly stands out to be the most predominant instrument of colonization. It has successfully invaded a number of professional genres, including academic, corporate, political, journalistic and many of the reporting genres, displaying the use of a range strategies from a relatively subtle appropriation of lexico-grammatical and discoursal resources to a much more conspicuous ‘hybridization’ […] of genres […]”

(Bhatia 2004, 88)

This propensity for advertising to invade other genres, thus changing and evolving the invaded

genres, stems from a social context in which advertising is a very important factor. Whether it is the

need of politicians to better promote themselves, e.g. the usage of Facebook and Twitter serving as

some of the most recent examples, educational institutions needing to advertise their strong points

to remain competitive, or indeed annual reports needing a promotional framework to highlight their

successes and downplay their missteps or promote their values, the need for advertising as a genre

is very evident.

The social context of a genre is thus vital to genre evolution. While the specific example

highlighted here is the need for advertising and promotion, further social contexts that can influence

how genres evolve, especially in relation to advertising as a part of those genres, are not hard to

25

come by. One example could be an increased focus on safety within the automotive industry20,

which in turn has influenced how cars are marketed, promoted and evaluated. Another example

could be the importance of environmental sustainability and being green, which is a focus of many

companies and corporations, as evidenced by its inclusion in e.g. annual reports (see the

analysis).With the importance of social context in relation to the evolution of a genre in mind, along

with the other aspects of genre already discusses, i.e. the British ESP approach and how genre has

developed, it is now possible to formulate the definition of genre used in this project.

A Definition of Genre

A genre is a range of communicative events drawn together by a shared, similar

communicative purpose. Genres can exist within disciplinary domains such as law, whilst

simultaneously also being applicable to the domain of business, e.g. the textbook genre is

found within both of those domains. A genre’s communicative purpose is able to be

recognised and mutually understood by members of the given professional or academic

community. This recognition is possible due to the lexico-grammatical features of the genre,

as well as the social context in which it operates. Both the lexico-grammatical features and

the social context also serve as the rules of a genre, i.e. its defining characteristics, both

influencing and limiting the choice of content and style of the particular genre.

Genres can also exist within genre colonies, which are groups of genres that share a broader

set of communicative purposes than that just found within a genre or disciplinary domain.

As a result of this broader communicative purpose, individual genres do not necessarily

conform to the disciplinary domains and boundaries of the other genres within the genre

colony. Furthermore, genre colonies are an expression of how genres evolve, where

different genres from different disciplinary domains can nonetheless belong to the same

colony. As a result of this, the influence of social context becomes even more important to

include in a definition genre, since it is the social context that shapes the communicative

purpose(s) of a genre or genre colony, respectively.

20 One example of this focus is the creation of the Euro NCAP star rating, introduced in 1997 (Euro NCAP 2012), which is now often referenced by car makers when promoting their new cars (see Alfa Romeo 2012, Mazda 2012 and Renault 2012 for a few examples).

26

Crisis Communication

Since social context is so important for how a genre evolves and how its communicative purpose is

formed, it is beneficial to consider how companies communicate during a crisis and whether crisis

communication is relevant for analysing annual reports. A crisis can constitute a major component

of the social context, whether the crisis comes from within the company or from outside it. This is

especially pertinent to the analysis of the annual reports found within this project, since recent

reports have been influenced by the global financial crisis, which has affected a wide range of

companies for several years.

What is a crisis?

Ulmer, Sellnow and Seeger (2007, 5) define crises as “unique moments in the history of

organizations”. This is a definition which emphasises the three key elements of a crisis: surprise,

threat and short response time, as well as the opportunity for the organisation to come out stronger

if it handles a crisis well. These three elements separate a crisis from simply an unpleasant

occurrence (Ibid., 5-6). Firstly the element of surprise: whatever the event, whether it is an

earthquake or a faulty product which necessitates it being recalled, it does not escalate to a crisis if

an organisation is prepared for it. If an earthquake hits, but the organisation is based in an

earthquake prone area and as a result has taken countermeasures to protect themselves, such as

buildings built to withstand earthquakes, then it is not a crisis. Similarly, a faulty product may have

been detected as it was being shipped, thus giving the organisation time to prepare and initiate

procedures for a recall before a public outcry occurs, is not a crisis either. Conversely, if an

earthquake occurs where it normally does not or if it is of a much greater magnitude than what was

prepared for, then the organisation does face a crisis. Secondly, an event has to be a threat to the

organisation. This can include either an actual, physical threat, such as the risk of lives being lost in

an earthquake, or a financial threat, i.e. the event threatens the organisations financial security.

Finally, the threatening and surprising nature of a crisis necessitates that the organisation responds

quickly, e.g. immediately recalling a product if it is found to be faulty. With these aspects in mind,

it is possible to expand on the definition above, specifically in relation to organisations:

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“An organizational crisis is a specific, unexpected, and nonroutine event or series of events that create high levels of uncertainty and threaten or are perceived to threaten and organization’s high-priority goals.”21

(Ulmer, Sellnow and Seeger 2007, 7)

Such an event or series of events may be visible in an annual report, but it does not fall within the

confines of typical crisis communication, where, aside from rapidly responding to a crisis in

practical terms, i.e. recalling the product, the organisation also has to quickly and often

communicate with stakeholders: “One of the fundamentals that crisis communicators should know

is that they must make immediate contact with stakeholders and communicate about the crisis”

(Ibid., 40). Thus, in terms of effective crisis communication, annual reports do not come close to

being crisis communication in this sense; an annual report is inherently too inflexible to function as

early and often communication regarding a crisis, given that it is produced only once a year.

However, crisis is still a valid term to consider when analysing the annual reports, at least in so far

as there may be references to the challenges the company has faced over the year, including any

crises faced. It is worth pointing out, that the global financial crisis currently faced by many

companies can be considered not so much a crisis, but rather a tough time for companies where

sales are lower and financial expectations have to be downplayed and adjusted. This is a way of

preventing a crisis from happening in the first place, i.e. it does not come as a surprise that sales

were lower, because the company expected as much and said as much in e.g. their annual report or

press releases. Everyone is aware of the crisis, so it is no surprise to companies and hence not a

crisis as per the above definition. It undeniably has a considerable impact on the social context of

the annual reports, and indeed some companies may have prepared inadequately for the effects of

the financial crisis or there may be unexpected events caused by the financial crisis that take

companies by surprise. In such a scenario, the company would be facing a crisis as defined above,

but the financial crisis in general does not categorise as one.

21 Their italics marked in bold.

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Analysis

Before starting the analysis, it is first necessary to clarify, that due to the sheer size of an annual

report, the full length of three of the annual reports analysed here exceeding 80 pages each22, the

aim is not to analyse each report from end to end. Rather, specific sections and examples will serve

as a focus to illustrate what characterises the annual report as a genre.

Analysis of the 2002 Annual Reports from Novozymes and DONG Energy

Despite the field being predetermined to a large extent, i.e. annual reports concern the company

publishing them, it is still beneficial to consider what specific topics are included in the discourse.

Key features for an annual report are included in both the DONG Energy and Novozymes report,

such as a mission and vision statement (DONG 2002, 4 and Novozymes 2002, 8-9)23, though

Novozymes uses a different wording: it has a vision headline, but the equivalent of the mission

statement is found just prior to the vision statement using the headline ‘Biological solutions for

industrial use’. DONG similarly has its mission statement just prior to its vision. Both reports also

start off their reports with an introduction, though Novozymes makes use of a Letter from the CEO,

the ‘CEO statement’ (pp. 4-5), whereas DONG uses a ‘preface’ from the board of directors (pp. 8-

11). Finally the annual reports, expectedly, include a vast number of performance indicators.

DONG’s report includes, among many other sections, a group income statement, a group balance

sheet, a parent income statement and balance sheet and financial highlights. These sections make

extensive use of numbers and figures (see pp. 46-67). The Novozymes report similarly includes

performance indicators, but these are much more integrated into the text under headlines such as

‘sales and markets’ (pp. 22-25). However, it is also worth noting that the Novozymes 2002 annual

report stands out compared to the other reports analysed, since it is much shorter at 43 pages.

Compared to the 2002 DONG annual report, that is approximately half the length, which partially

explains the comparative lack of numbers and figures. This difference in presentation, with

Novozymes structuring their annual report differently than DONG, will now be analysed further by

22 The full annual reports are available on the accompanying CD in the appendix. Line numbers will be provided if necessary, but the structure of an annual report, e.g. the use of pictures, figures and many smaller sections, does not always function well with line numbers. Conversely, this structure minimises the need for line numbers to begin with, since sub-sections are typically easy to identify on a given page.23 Unless otherwise noted, all references under the 2002 annual report analysis, to either the DONG or Novozymes report, are naturally from the 2002 reports, and hence will simply be referenced by page number as well the specific report in question, if needed.

29

utilising Bhatia’s genre theory. As Bhatia stated, many genre colonies have seen an invasion of

advertising in recent years and as a result he characterised annual reports as both belonging to the

promotional genre colony as well as the reporting genre colony. Given the above difference in

presentation between the reports, it is beneficial to try and identify typical reporting genre features

and typical promotional genre features. This will help determine to what extent each 2002 report is

influenced by either genre colony.

Reporting genre features

The DONG annual report is very influenced by the reporting genre colony, with a vast number of

pure reporting features, such as the numbers and figures mentioned above. A list of numbers is

reporting something in and of itself, thus not requiring a specific analysis to determine that it is

influenced by the reporting genre. However, also the language used in the DONG report shows

many signs of being influenced by the reporting genre. A prime example is the ‘Management’s

review’ section (pp. 12-33), with many examples to be found throughout. The following quote (p.

18, ‘Market Conditions’ para. 1) will serve to illustrate:

“In 2002 some of DONG's customers chose to receive their gas from other suppliers. However, a considerable number of the gas trading contracts that were put out to tender in 2002 were won by DONG, reflecting the fact that DONG's pricing and services are competitive in the market.”

Using mode to analyse the above, it is first of all apparent that the role of the language is primarily

to report what has happened over the previous year. It specifies a loss of customers as well as

several contracts being won. The loss of customers to other suppliers is referred to as ‘some’ and

they ‘chose’, thus emphasising that the amount of customers does not bear further specification here

and that their decision to switch to another supplier was simply unfortunate. This presents a very

neutral sentence, with DONG distancing itself from the loss of customers without the use of any

modal verbs. This is not out of place for a reporting genre, since its purpose is to report and not

evaluate. However, that is not to say that the quote does not present DONG in a favourable manner.

The loss of customers is unfortunate, but the text acts persuasively by using ‘however’ and

‘considerable’ to emphasise that contracts were still won by DONG despite this loss of customers.

Afterwards the tense changes from past to present, again to emphasise that the contracts were won

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because DONG was competitive in the market at the time and remain competitive now. Here is

another example of this type of writing:

“In 2002 the Danish Energy Regulatory Authority decided that DONG's transmission tariffs must be lowered by 12 per cent and the charge for the emergency supply obligation by 5 per cent. DONG did not agree with the decision, one of the implications of which is that DONG will receive a considerably lower return on its investments than the return approved by the authorities in other EU countries. […] DONG has therefore appealed the decision to the Energy Board of Appeal.”

(p. 22, para. 2)

Again a negative impact on the company, i.e. the lowering of the transmission tariff, is persuasive in

nature and presented as beyond DONG’s control, subsequently followed by what DONG’s current

situation is as a result, i.e. it has appealed the decision. Here is yet another example, which also

illustrates how the reporting genre influences communication with its receivers as a result of the

social context:

“DONG's operating profit may fluctuate from year to year as a result of the development of the price of oil, even if this risk is eliminated. The reason for this is the so-called time-lag effect, which means that the financial result may fluctuate regardless of whether DONG has reduced its oil price risk.”

(p. 23, ‘Oil price risk’ para. 3)

Once more a negative impact is framed as beyond DONG’s control, though this time also using

modality through the use of ‘may’, emphasising that while the operating profit fluctuate due to the

price of oil, which is beyond DONG’s control, this might or might not happen. This reports the

facts, while still persuading the reader that DONG is doing a good job. This is consistent with the

overarching title used for this reporting aspect of the annual report, i.e. DONG calls it the

management review, and hence some measure of evaluation is expected.

This also brings up the social context within which this reporting genre operates. With annual

reports available to a wider range of people via the Internet, DONG has to take ensure they report

the facts in an easily understandable manner. This is evident in how DONG feels the need to

explain the time-lag effect, as well as referring to it as ‘so-called’; the language assures the reader

that he or she is not supposed to be familiar with this concept and DONG fully accepts the

responsibility of explaining it. The importance of the social context is further evident in the subject

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matters included in the report. While I have already mentioned some of these above under the field

of both reports, there are specific topics worth taking note of. First of all there is a mention of

renewable energy: “Renewable energy […]) is expected to become a more important and, with

time, significant contributor to the company's earnings, especially within wind energy” (p. 26,

‘Renewable energy’ para. 1). This in turn is an extension of a focus on the environment:

“DONG wants to do its part in achieving this goal by seeking to increase society's use of natural gas as a substitute for less eco-friendly fuels such as coal. DONG endeavours to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the Group's activities in many ways. Emission from Fredericia crude oil terminal represents 27 per cent of the DONG Group's total contribution to the greenhouse effect. In spring 2003 DONG will consider measures for reducing its emission of greenhouse gases still further.”

(p. 28, ‘Measures to reduce environmental impact’ para. 1-2)

This is a prime example of a reporting genre, however, focused on the communicative purpose of

reporting the facts. The language is not very persuasive or modal, but simply states that the

environment is important and the DONG wants to do its part and subsequently introduces some

figures. Furthermore, in several instances the price of these environmental measures is brought up,

e.g. “[…] leading to increased operating costs” (p. 29, para. 1) and “an analysis of the costs

involved in achieving this goal will be carried out in 2003” (Ibid., para. 2). This further supports the

influence of the reporting genre colony, as a more promotional genre would emphasise the benefits

of being environmentally sustainable and why it is necessary to have such values in the company.

The Novozymes report is much less of a reporting genre in its way of writing about the environment

and sustainability, despite it being an annual report from the same year. It is influenced to a much

larger extent by the promotional genre, which will be analysed further in the next section. However,

it does still have reporting features in certain parts of the report:

“The drop in sales of detergent enzymes was unexpected and due primarily to large customers cutting back on raw materials costs. Large customers’ focus on cutting costs rather than launching new products is expected to impact on sales in 2003 too.”

(p. 22, ‘Enzymes for industrial use’ para. 4)

This is similar to the DONG examples, where the negative impact, i.e. a drop in sales, is presented

as unexpected beyond Novozymes’ control, since the drop is due to ‘large customers cutting back

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on raw material costs’. Another example similarly shows how Novozymes takes its readers into

account, just as the DONG example with the time-lag effect: “Technical enzymes etc. include

products for: The detergent industry, the starch, textile, fuel ethanol, pharmaceutical, leather and

forestry industries […]” (p. 22, ‘Enzymes for industrial use’ para. 2). It is worth pointing out that

the reporting genre naturally also includes when the two companies have performed well, where so

far I have used examples of when there has been a drop in sales or unexpected events. One such

example from Novozymes is: “The successful strategic alliance with Roche Vitamins was further

consolidated during the year and contributed to the strong sales growth” (p. 25, ‘Feed enzymes’

para. 2). Here Novozymes uses the language to report favourably about the alliance with Rocha

Vitamins by stating that the alliance is successful and, through Novozymes further strengthening

this alliance, it helped to contribute to strong sales growths. This is similar to the first example from

the DONG annual report, where DONG distances itself from the loss of customers, but emphasises

its role in winning the contracts, only here there is no negative aspect to what is being reported.

Instead, it builds upon the already established success, but still emphasises the company’s effort to

‘further consolidate’ the alliance.

The influence of the reporting genre on both annual reports is evident, though more so in the DONG

report. This can partly be attributed to the fact that the two companies operate within different sub-

genres, DONG within the energy sector and Novozymes within biotechnology. Even so however,

they still belong to the same genre, which indicates that the influence of the promotional genre may

be different across the two annual reports, which will now be analysed.

Promotional genre features

The influence of the promotional genre on the Novozymes annual report is very prominent. Where

the DONG report, as illustrated in the above analysis, heavily features the use of the reporting

genre, the Novozymes report is more promotional throughout much of its content. A prime example

is the way language is used to talk about their new products launched during the year and their

importance to the company:

“Enzymes for baking is one area where Novozymes is growing fast. New products have been warmly welcomed by customers in the baking industry. Enzymes result in bread of high quality and offer bakeries a variety of benefits in the production process.

33

We expect baking enzymes to continue to account for a high proportion of growth in sales of food enzymes in the coming years.”

(p. 26, ‘Success for new baking enzyme’ para. 1)

The properties of the product are highlighted and promoted, i.e. the products have been ‘warmly’

received, it results in ‘high quality’ bread and offers bakers a ‘variety of benefits in the production

process’. The use of the present perfectum tense, i.e. “new products have been warmly received”,

helps establish the reception as an accomplishment or achievement. The company is furthermore

referred to as ‘we’, inserting the company into the text and personalising it. The paragraph also

predicts about the future of this particular product and its role for the company. Finding a similar

quote from DONG, i.e. one which highlights a product, its qualities and predictions about the

future, proves difficult in the 2002 report. There is indeed a section titled ‘New products and

services’ in the DONG annual report, but the style is greatly dissimilar from that of the Novozymes

example above:

“To provide its customers with the best and broadest supply of new products and services DONG introduced a number of new offers at the turn of the year. The offers comprise gas installation service schemes and financing schemes for residential customers. […] In 2003 DONG will follow this up with a number of additional offers to its customers.”

(p. 18, para.. 1-2)

The products launched are referred to in the past tense, which does nothing to help set the focus on

the future, nor are the products described in the same detail and their features highlighted as they

were in the Novozymes report. Where enzymes ‘result in bread of high quality’, ‘gas installation

service schemes’ are simply described by their name. This is reporting the product that has been

launched, i.e. the schemes, as opposed to promoting it, i.e. it yields high quality bread. Another

example of the Novozymes annual report being influenced by promotional genre is how the

environment and sustainability is addressed. The ‘Targets and results’ section in the Novozymes

report (pp. 28-29) is not altogether different from the discourse of DONG’s section about

environment, mentioned earlier. Neither Novozymes nor DONG use persuasive language, but

instead focus on primarily reporting what measures have been taken to protect the environment and

be sustainable, though the Novozymes report does once again refer to the company as ‘we’.

34

However, following this broad overview of the environmental goals of Novozymes, the annual

report once again elaborates and provides a specific example, much like the baking enzymes

example:

“Waste is one of the world’s major environmental problems. At Novozymes we are constantly striving to get better at reducing the amount of waste we generate, for example by recycling biomass from production. Our experience can also be used elsewhere, e.g. in the developing world.”

(p. 30, ‘Valuable waste’ para. 1)

This once again serves as a means for the annual report to promote a specific feature of

Novozymes’ environmental strategy, instead of primarily reporting it. The use of ‘we’ in the

Novozymes report is found throughout the report, which helps to promote facts that would

otherwise be written with a reporting genre approach in mind. The following DONG example

illustrates this well:

“To reduce discharge of chemicals into the marine environment, DONG reuses part of the

water-based drilling mud instead of discharging it. DONG has decided to increase reuse of

drilling mud” (p. 29, para. 6).

If this example was written in a similar fashion to the Novozymes report, e.g. using ‘we’ to insert

the company into the text and adopt a more promotional approach, it might have read:

We reuse part of the water-based drilling mud instead of discharging it, which reduces the

discharge of chemicals into the marine environment. We have therefore decided to increase

our reuse of drilling mud in the coming years.

It is thus clear, that a lot of the content found within the annual reports differs in this regard, i.e. the

Novozymes report is more promotional in nature and the DONG report is more reporting in nature.

However, there are also sections of the reports where they might be expected to share promotional

features. The Novozymes CEO statement (pp. 4-5) and the DONG preface (pp. 8-11), written by the

board of directors, could at a glance be presumed to serve the same function, i.e. the leader(s) of the

company evaluating the year gone by, and to some extent this is true. First of all, the DONG report

makes use of ‘we’ in this section: “Besides focusing intensely on consolidation and integration of

electricity and gas, we shall continue to optimise our activities in the other levels of the value

35

chain” (p. 11, para. 4). There are several other instances of ‘we’ being used during the ‘preface’ of

DONG’s annual report, most of them being used similarly to the above example, emphasising the

intentions of the company moving forward, e.g. “we shall also continue”, “we intend” and “we are

working intensively” (p. 11). These are ways of referring to the future, just as: “The trend in all the

EU countries is towards the establishment of large, well-consolidated energy groups. The trend will

not miss out Denmark” (Ibid., para. 1). However, the DONG report is still very characterised by the

reporting genre. The instances of we are few and not used to evaluate anything, merely emphasise

commitments. When compared to the Novozymes report, this difference becomes clear:

“We imagine a future where our biological solutions create the necessary balance between better business, a cleaner environment and better lives. We aim to achieve double-digit growth, with a leadership position in all markets served, and we are committed to running our business in a sustainable manner.”

(p. 4, para. 3)

There is still mention of the future, as in the DONG example, e.g. ‘we aim to achieve’. However,

the very first sentence in this example contains the word ‘imagine’, which is not something

typically found within the reporting genre, where focus is on facts not speculation. Indeed, the word

imagine or any synonyms, such as conceive, does not once appear in the DONG report.

Furthermore, the Novozymes CEO letter is evaluative in a way the DONG report is not:

“This is a positive and exciting development, and I am convinced that Novozymes and other companies together can take things even further in the years ahead. I believe that it is here that future solutions to industry’s problems will be found – and Novozymes will be in a strong position as such a commercial trend begins to strengthen.”

(pp. 4-5, ‘Emergence of white biotechnology’)

The quote references a development of white biotechnology, which is comparative to an earlier

example, where DONG mentions a trend that is expected to impact their company (p. 11, para.1).

However, where DONG simply states, i.e. reports, “The trend will not miss out on Denmark”,

Novozymes adopts a more promotional approach. The development is characterised as ‘positive’

and ‘exciting’ by the CEO, who goes on to state that “I am convinced” and further down “I

believe”. These are promotional traits, the purpose of which is to promote the company by being

36

persuasive and evaluative. Stating that “I believe that this it is here that it is here that future

solutions […] will be found” is in not part of the reporting genre. There are no facts given as to why

the CEO believes this would be the case, at least not here, but because of its promotional goal, this

is not the purpose anyway. Thus, despite similar functions, in terms of textual organisation, of the

board of directors’ preface in the DONG report and the CEO statement in the Novozymes report, it

is evident that there are fundamental differences in their communicative purposes.

Part conclusion

The 2002 annual reports from Novozymes and DONG share the same broad communicative

purpose of reporting the results of the company’s performance, which includes a lot of numbers and

figures. Furthermore, both annual reports are situated within a similar social context, where

especially the environment and sustainability is a factor that must be considered, beyond the natural

context of a simply being a business. However, there are stark differences in how each annual report

behaves as a genre. The DONG annual report is heavily influenced by the reporting genre, with a

majority of its content, and thus the language being used, serving reporting purposes. As a result,

the DONG report very rarely inserts the company into the text, i.e. the company is scarcely referred

to as ‘we’. Similarly there is very little speculation about the future present, with what references to

future plans that are present being firmly situated within the constraints of a reporting genre. The

Novozymes report on the other hand, is much more influenced by the promotional genre. Products

are promoted and their qualities emphasised, and there is a frequent use of ‘we’ when referring to

the company. While reporting results and facts are obviously important, there is much larger focus

on promoting future plans and the company in general. A prime example is the inclusion of a CEO

letter, in which the CEO speculates and evaluates on the current year’s results and future

possibilities, using very non-factual terms such as ‘imagine’ and ‘I believe’. These conclusions will

now serve as a starting point for analysing the 2011 reports and determining how the genre has

evolved.

37

Analysis of the DONG Energy 2011 Annual Reports from Novozymes and DONG

Energy

Having analysed what characterises the annual report genre in 2002, it is now possibly to analyse

the genre in its 2011 version and how it has evolved, both in relation to each company’s report, as

well as the genre in general. This part of the analysis will not be split into a focus on the reports as

either a reporting or promotional genres, but rather seek to point out important differences between

the 2002 and 2011 reports, regardless of whether they are reporting or promotional.

It is first of all beneficial to determine whether there has been a change in the types of subjects and

topics included in the report, i.e. the field of the discourse. In relation to the DONG 2011 annual

report, is it immediately apparent that there has been a change in content, with the following

introduction in the list of contents:

“To make the annual report more user friendly, DONG Energy has, for the first time, chosen to publish a Group annual report that does not include accounting policies for the financial statements and non-financial statements, licence overview [etc.]”

(p. C)24

Those figures are included in, what DONG calls, the complete annual report. This change is made

for the benefit of the readers, since the reporting genre is primarily concerned with reporting facts,

though also doing so in the most efficient manner. However, if the annual report was only a

reporting genre, there would be no reason to exclude important facts from the report; an increasing

number of areas, number, figures and statistics may warrant restructuring the report to make it more

easily understandable, but splitting the report up is a significant change. Because of this, I would

argue that this change is due to the influence of the promotional genre. However, it is not

necessarily an increase in its influence compared to the 2002 DONG report, since the 2002 report

also took its readers into consideration, acknowledging that the social context of the annual report

gives rise to a vast and eclectic amount of readers, all stakeholders important to the company, which

in turn warrants a focus on user friendliness. In 2011 social context is still considered, as a result of

which the report has been split up. It is not accurate to say that the annual report has become more

or less promotional on the basis of this example alone, since the report is approximately the same

length as the 2002 report and still contains a large number of figures, facts and statistics. 24 The 2011 DONG annual report refers to the first four pages of the report as A, B, C and D, before adopting a traditional numerical approach beginning with page 1.

38

Furthermore, the contents of both the DONG 2011 and Novozymes 2011 annual reports indicate,

that subject matters and topics that were included in 2002 are very similar in 2011, specifically

environmental sustainability and future plans. In order to reveal how the genre has evolved, it is

necessary to delve further into these two areas, which define the social context the annual reports

operate within - this is done further into analysis (see p. 41). Before doing so, however, it is first of

all worth pointing out that the Novozymes 2011 annual report is much larger than the 2002 version.

It now includes a similar amount of reporting elements, i.e. a large amount of figures and numbers

(pp. 48-90), which is more similar to the 2002 and 2011 DONG annual reports, at least in terms of

how much it is influenced by the reporting genre. Secondly, a letter from the CEO is now also

included in the DONG 2011annual report, which will now be analysed further along with the

Novozymes 2011 letter from the CEO.

Letters from the CEOs

The first notable change is the inclusion of a letter from the CEO in the DONG 2011 annual report,

which is now introduced with a ‘Letter from the Chairman and the CEO’ (p. 1). This replaces the

introduction from the board of directors used in 2002 and is instead closer to how the Novozymes

2002 report was structured. This is evident through a phrase such as: “Modern society is using more

and more energy. At the same time, we want to slow down the impact on the environment to which

traditional energy production contributes” (Ibid., para. 1). Here ‘we’ is used to express the

company’s desire to reach a future goal. With that being said, the CEO statement found in the 2002

Novozymes report is still more promotional than this 2011 DONG CEO statement. The CEO does

not directly step into the text through using ‘I’, nor are there any speculations as to what the future

holds. More promotional statements such as ‘we believe’ can however be found in other parts of the

report, a prime example being the CSR25 report section:

“The Group believes that no company can achieve lasting success without ethical integrity, environmental stewardship and the development of positive relationships with the people, communities and organisations affected by its activities.”

(p. 6)

25 Corporate Social Responsibility.

39

This is a more promotional expression, with the purpose of promoting and advertising the opinions

and views of the company, hence the use of ‘believes’. The Novozymes 2011 annual report still

includes a letter from the CEO, but it no longer serves as the introduction to the report. This is

instead done via a letter from the board of directors, which was also the case with the 2002 DONG

annual report. While the first thought that comes to mind may be that the genre is chaotic, and it is

not so much evolving as simply being mixed up within itself, this would be a faulty assumption.

While the name is the same, the content of the letter from the board of directors in Novozymes 2011

report is nonetheless different from that found in DONG’s 2002 report. There is still en emphasis on

how the company is going to move forward in Novozymes 2011 letter from the board of the

directors:

“By leveraging our unique technology platform and mastering the innovation process, we can create increased revenue opportunities and make the business more efficient and the world more sustainable. As a result, we can deliver on shorter-term targets while keeping our minds set on long-term value creation, despite the ever-changing world in which we operate.”

(p. 1, para. 3)

The use of ‘we can create’ and ‘we can deliver’ is very similar to DONG’s 2002 letter from the

board of directors, hence it is characterised by the reporting genre. However, in the Novozymes

2011 version there is a greater use of personal pronouns, e.g. we, our and us, to personalise the

company. Furthermore, as the example above illustrates, the Novozymes letter goes beyond simply

talking about the goals and objectives of the company, and also promotes its values, e.g. ‘long-term

value creation, despite the ever-changing world in which we operate’. By emphasising the

importance of values in this way, the text becomes more promotional as opposed to a report. Here is

another example:

“We strive constantly to ensure that Novozymes operates and grows in a responsible manner, with our unwavering business ethics always a top priority irrespective of any turbulence in global markets.”

(p. 2, para. 1)

40

Here too the emphasis is on values, i.e. growing responsibly and embodying unwavering business

ethics. It is this focus on values that sets the Novozymes 2011 letter from the board of directors

apart from its 2002 DONG counterpart, and this indicates an increased influence of the promotion

genre colony. Novozymes’ CEO letter is instead found as an introduction to the section titled

‘Outlook’. This makes sense for the Novozymes CEO letter, because it has a much greater tendency

to make predictions about the future and feature the CEO’s opinions; first paragraph of the letter

reads:

“We remain focused on executing our strategy and developing our core business through innovation and sustainability, but it is not a matter of business as usual. We continue to challenge ourselves and to challenge convention, as we are convinced this is the best way to create value both today and tomorrow.”

(p. 26)

This is the perfect example of how the annual report genre has become increasingly promotional in

response to the social context the genre operates within.

The social context of the 2011 annual report genre

Business strategy and innovation exists within a context of sustainability and social responsibility,

which requires companies to formulate and promote values to that end. Examples of this are found

throughout the Novozymes CEO letter:

“The human race reached a new milestone in 2011: There are now 7 billion of us! This is putting pressure on natural resources, many of which – including food, water, and energy – are already scarce or will be if we keep exploiting them unsustainably.” (Ibid., para. 2)

“A viable, environmentally friendly alternative to oil is no longer just a dream – advanced biofuels are now a reality with commercial-scale facilities coming on line, providing us with a sustainable solution to one of today’s most critical resource issues.” (Ibid., para. 4)

“This is also why Novozymes has now committed to hosting a global sustainability summit for the household care industry on a biennial basis. We want to catalyze change and innovation […]” (Ibid., para. 7)

41

It is evident from these examples that sustainability, the environment and the values required to

effectively consider these factors as a business, have all become critical to include in an annual

report. This is also the case in the DONG 2011 annual report, where the title of the CEO letter is

‘More reliable and clean energy’, and there are sections dedicated to ‘Wind and biomass growth’

and environmental care. As a result of the importance of this social context, promoting these values

has become more important, and the textual features of a promotional genre are thus evident in

various areas of the annual reports. The ‘Wind and biomass growth’ section of the DONG 2011

report (p. 10), for instance, contains the following:

“These ambitious targets [reducing CO2 emissions] will be achieved by radical conversion of DONG Energy’s electricity generation from fossil to renewable energy. DONG Energy continues to develop offshore wind farms in Denmark, the UK and Germany, and the plan is for coal-fired power stations to be converted to biomass. DONG Energy has also made investments in power stations that use gas, which emits significantly less CO2 than coal. This is the best alternative, among fossil fuels, for safeguarding reliable energy supply.”

The use of the adjective ‘ambitious’, emphasises that DONG is doing more than simply complying

with regulations, but doing business according to company values. It is more than just something

that has to be done, and DONG is willing to take ‘radical’ steps to achieve sustainability and

contribute to protecting the environment. Similarly, DONG ‘continues’ to develop offshore wind

farms to this end, as opposed to having developed enough to meet current regulatory demands. The

point is also made, that while the company still uses fossil fuels, it is trying to ‘safeguard’ a reliable

and sustainable energy supply by investing in gas. According to DONG this is the ‘best’ alternative

among fossil fuels, again emphasising that the second best is not good enough for a company that

values the environment and is dedicated to being green. This all falls under the promotional genre:

DONG’s green profile is advertised, promoted. There is still a clear presence of the reporting genre,

e.g. “In 2006, 91% of the Group’s electricity generation capacity was located in Denmark” (Ibid.),

but annual report is supposed to include just that: reporting. Similar examples are found in the

Novozymes 2011 report as well:

“There is increasing commitment to reducing CO2 emissions, stimulated by regulation and retailers’ more stringent requirements, and it is a priority for Novozymes to position our enzyme technology as part of the solution to address climate change. […] we provided CO2 data on selected enzymes to customers and partners and advised

42

them on changing their product mix and shifting to more concentrated products with lower environmental impact.”

(p. 17, para. 2)

Novozymes recognises the demand from society to protect the environment, and it is a ‘priority’ for

Novozymes to be a part of the ‘solution’ to the problem of climate change. Being part of a solution

is a step beyond simply following the regulations that seek to enforce it. It is an important value for

the company, as a result of which Novozymes has sought to help its customers implement their

products in a more environmentally friendly way. This is again promotion of products and the

measures being taken in the effort to protect the environment. The quote also highlights the

acknowledgement of the social context the company is situated in, i.e. the environment is important,

further evidenced in the Novozymes report by this statement: “To fulfill our commitment to society,

Novozymes must always be up-to-date on the sustainability agenda relevant to our stakeholders and

society at large” (p. 44, para. 2). The social context is thus vital in shaping the communicative

purpose of the annual report, with the social context being defined to a large extent by having a

green profile, sustainability and protecting the environment. It is also possible to include social

responsibility in the social context, since Novozymes states in its 2011 annual report, that its

“fundamental values include environmental and social responsibility” (p. 46, para. 3). Similarly,

DONG also states, in its 2011 report under the CSR report, that it “believes that no company can

achieve lasting success without ethical integrity, environmental stewardship and the development of

positive relationships with the people, communities and organisations affected by its activities” (p.

6).

Part Conclusion

The 2011 annual reports from Novozymes and DONG Energy still retain some of their

characteristics of the 2002 reports, but have also changed, indeed evolved, in significant ways. The

Novozymes report is still significantly promotional in nature, but has also included a much larger

amount of figures, statistics and numbers; hence the influence of the reporting genre is increased.

Conversely the DONG is still very influenced by the reporting genre, but has cut some of its figures

and statistics in an effort in make the report more user friendly. Furthermore, the content of the

report is more promotional in nature than was the case in 2002, showing that in DONG’s case it is

43

the influence of the promotional genre which has increased. Both reports now include a CEO’s

letter, as well as a statement from the board of directors, though they are used differently within the

text. Nonetheless, the reports are more similar now than in 2002. Both use personal pronouns to

insert the company into the text and personalise it, and both are influenced by the same social

context. The social context has a big impact on the communicative purposes of both reports, being

defined by the importance of a green profile, sustainability, protecting the environment and social

responsibility. In conclusion then, the reports are much more similar than in 2002, sharing many of

the similar traits and communicative purposes.

44

Discussion

From the analysis it is clear that the annual report genre seems to have changed between 2002 and

2011, but is it an evolution? I would argue that it is indeed an evolution for a couple of reasons. The

primary indication that it is an evolution is found in how the two reports have approached each

other in their structure, content and communicative purposes – all of which are defining aspects of a

genre. Where in 2002 the DONG annual report was primarily characterised as a reporting genre and

the Novozymes report primarily characterised as a promotional genre, both are now significantly

more similar. While both reports were still within the annual report genre at that time, it seems that

the genre was not completely stable or the its defining features not yet fully established, as

according to Bhatia’s theory: “Genres are recognizable communicative events, characterized by a

set of communicative purposes identified and mutually understood by members of the professional

or academic community in which they regularly occur” (Bhatia 2004, 23). The communicative

purposes of each annual report from 2002 were different, and as a result the professional

community surrounding annual reports was not in agreement of how an annual report should be

structured and what it should contain. The communicative purpose of the DONG report was

primarily being a report, i.e. reporting how the company had performed using numbers, figures and

statistics. Conversely, the communicative purpose of the Novozymes report was primarily

promotional, i.e. its language was more promotional and the annual report as a whole was much

shorter than the DONG report, due to the fact that it included far less features of the reporting genre.

It simply did not have nearly as many numbers, figures or statistics. This difference in

communicative purpose was furthermore evident in the DONG report including a letter from the

board of directors, which was primarily reporting in nature, where the Novozymes report had a

letter from the CEO, which was primarily promotional in nature.

In the 2011 annual reports however, both reports share largely the same communicative purpose.

The Novozymes report has become more reporting in nature, having expanded greatly in size to

accommodate the inclusion of more numbers, figures and statistics. In turn the DONG report has

become more promotional in nature, utilising more promotional language and excluding some of

the numbers, figures and statistics to accommodate a more user friendly report. It can be argued that

this is more of a change in the genre, as opposed to an evolution, since each report assimilated

elements from the other rather than came up with radically different features. However, there are

two arguments against this. Firstly, it is not necessary to incorporate completely new features into a

45

genre for it to be an evolution. Bearing in mind the concept of genre colonies, genres are already

influenced by other genres in the same colony and can furthermore belong to more than one colony

as well. Since the annual report genre could already be identified as belonging to both the

promotional and reporting genre colonies, there is no need for entirely new features in order to

evolve. Entirely new features for a genre would likely come from a third genre colony in this case,

possibly further complicating the establishment of recognisable communicative events. Secondly,

the increased importance of the social context for the annual report genre has contributed to make a

more unified set of communicative events a necessity within the genre. A company must consider

its green profile and environmental impact, it must consider it sustainability and it must consider its

social responsibility. If it does not, it is at risk legal consequences or, more likely and possibly more

devastating, a backlash from the public, stakeholders and even shareholders – all of which can have

serious ramifications for a company’s financial success and even survival. It is therefore no surprise

that the annual reports have come to these same features and topics, as it is a response to the social

context of the genre, indeed it is an evolution of the genre. The communicative purposes of the

genre in 2011 are now much more similar, though not completely the same due to the reports being

from different companies and different business areas. Due to the importance of this social context

for the genre, there has been an increased use of promotional features to emphasise the companies’

values related to these contexts. Thus, considering that the genre has moved from having scattered

communicative purposes, to much more specific communicative purposes that require the use of

promotional features in what is essentially a report, as such also firmly belonging to the reporting

genre, it is reasonable to call it an evolution of the genre.

Finally, it is worth noting that the impact of crises on the annual reports was very small. Naturally

the numbers, figures and statistics will be affected by a big crisis like the 2011 Japan earthquake

and the subsequent Fukushima nuclear accident, and the events are as a result mentioned in the

annual reports if relevant (DONG 2011, 8). However, there were no special sections or parts of the

reports dedicated to this, which indicates that the necessary communication in such events fall

outside the annual report genre, in turn having little impact on its evolution. The current financial

crisis is likewise mentioned, but as discussed in the theory this is not a crisis in the same sense as an

earthquake, nor was it given undue attention in the shape of its own section. Rather, it is included in

the annual reports when e.g. mentioning future plans or explaining a drop in sales, where it fits

naturally with other such factors.

46

Conclusion

Throughout this project the annual reports from 2002 and 2011, from Novozymes and DONG

Energy, have been analysed, and on the basis of this analysis it could be argued that the annual

report genre has indeed evolved. The 2002 annual reports were very different in terms of their

communicative purposes, with the DONG report primarily influenced by the reporting genre and

conversely the Novozymes report influenced to a much larger extent by the promotional genre. The

2011 annual reports see a convergence of textual features, structure and subject matters, which can

be seen as a response to the increasing demands of what an annual report must accomplish as a

genre. This verifies my hypothesis that the characteristics which define a genre will have evolved

over time in response to these demands. As a result, in the 2011 annual reports there is a clear focus

on sustainability, social responsibility, a green profile and protecting the environment. This focus

has meant that the annual reports studied in this project have become more promotional, as a result

of having to emphasise values rather than simply numbers, figures and statistics. This is especially

evident in the difference between the DONG 2002 annual report and the 2011 annual report, which

is more promotional in 2011. Furthermore, this convergence of the reports has also caused the

Novozymes 2011 report to include more reporting genre features than it did in 2002.

This convergence defines the arguable evolution of the genre, since convergence is expected in

order to achieve a clear set of communicative purposes, which in turn define the genre. There are

two communicative purposes worth pointing out in this context of defining the genre. Firstly, the

purpose of the annual reports in 2011 is to communicate about Novozymes’ and DONG’s values.

These values define the respective companies’ approach to the aforementioned key factors such as

sustainability and protecting the environment. In extension of this purpose, a promotional approach

is taken in order to promote these values. Secondly, the annual report still has the communicative

purpose of reporting the company’s financial results through the year, thus necessitating a reporting

approach, which includes facts and figures. Both reports share these communicative purposes in

2011, whereas this was not the case in 2002, and this can be seen as the result of genre evolution.

47

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Appendix: CD with annual reports

51