This project strives to determine to what extent the annual report genre has evolved over a period of nine years. This includes an ambition to determine what characterises annual reports as a genre, and furthermore how these characteristics have changed to meet new demands of the genre in 2011.
This project uses genre theory to first of all define what constitutes a genre, but also how genres evolve and interact with each other in genre colonies, which in turn shapes the conventions and characteristics that define genres within a colony. Such characteristics include analysing textual features, which are composed of lexico-grammatical features and textual organisation. As a result of the importance of lexico-grammatical features, specific linguistic features are also considered in the effort to define the annual report genre’s characteristics. Another important characteristic of genre is found to be the social context it operates within, as a result of which this project argues that having a green profile, exhibiting social responsibility and helping to protect the environment are all key features of the social context the annual report genre exists within.
To determine what defines the annual report genre, this project assumes the form of a case study set within a Danish context, with annual reports being analysed from Novozymes and DONG Energy. The analysis is based in reports from 2002 and 2011, with the aim of comparing the reports in order to determine what defined the annual report genre in 2002, in the context of Novozymes and DONG Energy, and how this has changed in 2011. This report argues that changes over this period of time can indicate an evolution of the annual report genre has taken place.