Taser Company Ignored SEC Emails Because They Were In a Spam Folder By Kristy Westgard October 20, 2017, 1:07 PM EDT Check your spam box. It could be the SEC. That’s the lesson learned this week by Axon Enterprise Inc., the company best known for its Taser stun guns. Late Thursday, Axon announced that “due to miscommunication issues,” the company has just become aware of SEC requests regarding its previous financial reports and is now scrambling to respond. The stock fell as much as 7 percent, its biggest drop in more than two months. What happened? Axon’s internal email filters are to blame. The SEC sent its initial comment on Aug. 10 and follow-up requests only to Axon’s new CFO Jawad Ahsan, and they were quarantined in a spam filter. Dougherty & Co. analyst Jeremy Hamblin in a note to clients, called the incident "embarrassing, but nothing to be concerned about.” Truth be told, the SEC sends these sorts of comment letters to companies all the time, Hamblin says. Next time, Axon is sure to be watching more closely. The company says it has already changed its email filter and established a more reliable line of communication with the agency.
Questions
1-What Characteristics or strategy would have helped the SEC efficiently communicate?
2-Did SEC analyze their medium options for effectiveness?
3-Would another medium have been more effective and why?
4-Based on your readings what type of communication was the SEC email such memo, request, informational, etc.?
5-Did it follow the general guidelines for the required form of communication?
6-How should Taser respond to the SEC which type of correspondence should they use such memo, informational, persuasive or apologetic and what are the required guidelines for that specific communication for it to be effective and through which medium?