I joined PA a few years ago, but I haven't bought any shares yet. Now that the price has fallen, should I buy some. I have just read Zombie economy, and i am very worried that the economy (and PA's share price) has a lot further to fall

PA employee - do you seriously think you will get decent financial advice on here? Prepare yourself for useless comments about process mapping.Decisions like this are too important to ask for advice from people pretending to be in PA.Speak to a colleague you know and respect who has been in PA for a while.

About 5%, same as last time.The challenge of the Zombie Economy is whether we'll eat our own dog food. This is a time of opportunity for a firms with excess cash reserves...

Zombie Economy - pah! Utter nonsense. How many direct sales has it brought us? The share price will not show much change this year. Think the days of large rises are over for now.

PAer - "Utter nonsense" ????? Firstly it has and secondly do you not get that saying things like they (despite the fact it is inaccurate) doesn't do us any good?

PA's YouTube channel -- which contains the Zombie video -- is embarrassingly amateurDoes anyone involved know anything about online marketing/advertising, or is it just the usual boys with their toys?

"Speak to a colleague you......respect who has been in PA for a while."Erm, the two criteria quoted tend to cancel each other out.

"...the two criteria quoted tend to cancel each other out. "Ha ! Ha! Both funny and true

I just checked out the Zombie economy videos on YouTube - talk about amentuer tripe.The recovery is underway and it might take a long time??? How is this insightful? It's something that a 14 year old could tell you.With crud like this leading their thought leadership, it is no surprise that PA are floundering

Zombie - thank you for your inspiring and insightful posts.

If you're going to throw a pointless toothless dig, you need to ensure that you learn how not to post it multiple times.

Brian - thank you also for your inspiring and insightful post.

Come on OP - have you not read Zombie Economy yet?PA's share price, like the rest of the economy, will be on a slow downward slide for the next 3 - 4 years.

Me - and do you think PA publishing trite like the Zombie Economy does us any good?It is childish nonsense and I am totally embarrassed by it. There has not been one direct sale as a result.I would recommend JPM's YouTube talk to the MIT folk in Germany - shows what a smart and capable guy he still is.

I strongly doubt the share price will fall. Remember it is not a market value, which is just as well given the rumours and comments on here. As long as profits are made, the share price goes up. If profits are at a risk, get ready for another round of redundancies. Agreed that the uptick in share price may not be as big as before.

PAer - it has generated significant interest. If you are so good perhaps you could tell us the big thing you are doing for PA in this difficult environment. Or do you think bring so negative in public is the right thing to do for PA's future?You should rise from under your anonymous stone and give the marketing folks your well thought through opinion to save them any more time in using the book outside.I don't think PA is perfect but I am sensible enough to not want to do things to damage it.

Significant interest?? Do you mean significant ridicule? It has to be the most peurile, facile book that has been written in years. Predicting a slow recovery from the recession is not something that is particularly world changing. It is typical, however, of the intellectual lightweights that lead up our company.Could you imagine Accenture or one of the strategy firms publishing such a pile of steaming brown smelly mess?

Er, in a word "No".

Me - I ask again, what work has it brought us?You just have to look at EIS to see the impact - not a single Partner or MC in SMP has hit their targets this year. Perhaps they should stop trying to be pseudo-intellectuals and get on with some work!

PAer - under which of PA's five core values do you think writing this stuff comes?

"Significant interest?? Do you mean significant ridicule? It has to be the most peurile, facile book that has been written in years. Predicting a slow recovery from the recession is not something that is particularly world changing. It is typical, however, of the intellectual lightweights that lead up our company. ."Fact is ,"Another BOPper"; that the Zombie stuff breaks with the established PA marketing conventions. It's timely, engaging and well written. It's also the first thing that any of my industry contacts have told me they've seen from PA - shortly followed by various statement suggesting they found it useful / interesting.Given that neither you or I are the intended audience for the Zombie stuff, maybe we should just defer to those who are, and also try to support colleagues rather than slating them - I'd hate to think you're anyone I know or work with.

The Zombie economy says that there is large further falls in the economy and stock markets to come. It does not say that the economy is fine by any stretch of the imagination. PA's share price is linked to profits and assets. As PA has made a lot of money this year, the share price will go up. It's not hard.

Brilliant - someone from corporate is quoting PA's 5 core values! They really do not have a clue.

Another PAer - why is it people like you don't like the thought that there are people who disagree with your views? I am not in corporate and even if I was does that mean I can't like PA?Lurker's post is a good one (probably someone in corporate as he is expressing a different view to yours of course). And as Lurker says "I'd hate to think you're anyone I know or work with." I'd even go a step further and say I hope you are not in the same practice as me.

PA at war with each other again!

We act ethically, honourably and responsibly by following the four principles of decency excellence, character protection and justice...With any action, we strive to do the right thing rather than the easy thing and when in doubt ask ourselves "how will this look? Am I happy with how people would perceive my behaviour were they hear about what I have done here?Ahem...

"With any action, we strive to do the right thing rather than the easy thing and when in doubt ask ourselves "how will this look? Am I happy with how people would perceive my behaviour were they hear about what I have done here? "Pity none of our underperforming partners considered this before they endorsed a vicious, callous, and despicable redundancy round in the Autumn. Let's see how many of these tosseurs blame their "Zombie economy" for another year of underperformance.

The trouble with grandiose claims like PA's to be ethical is they mean nothing without evidence that they are adhered to in the real world. If the partners in PA have ever been faced with a choice between self protection and the right thing to do and gone on to chose to do the right thing I would love to know about it.

J - are you seriously suggesting that every partner in PA act unethically? This looks suspiciously like a content-free post to get the thread to the top.

So what caused the share price to fall in 2009? Was it all the redundancies and the bad publicity caused by memory sticks and T5?

Me,No, that's not what I said. My point was if you make grand public claims to be ethical you need to do something to make those claims credible to the outside world.

Not PA - The share price didn't fall in 2009.

J - they are credible. That's why PA gets lots of repeat business with clients. Here's a challenge for you. The very negative post you are about to do - see if you cab think of something original. I won't challenge you to be factual because I know that isn't how this site works.

Me,I'll repeat what I said earlier, because you clearly didn't understand the point I was making.If you claim to be ethical so publicly you need to openly demonstrate a commitment to ethical behavior. The Co-operative bank is a good example of a company that takes ethics seriously, and as a result will turn business down from certain sectors. Gaining repeat business might or might not be an indicator of ethical behavior.If you claim to be an exceptionally ethical organization then you need to demonstrate you behave exceptionally ethically, as the Body Shop did.

Am I the only PA-er old enough to remember PA doing a piece for a porn publisher many years ago?

Old Timer, stop being such a "tease" and tell us more!