The Characteristics of Good Issues Research
To develop effective issues management strategies, good issues research answers four questions:
- What are and will be the company's most important issues and what impacts are they likely to have on the business?
- Who are the key stakeholders and what are their strategies on these issues?
- What approaches to these issues will be most effective AND consistent with the company's overall strategy?
- How can these issues be turned into opportunities?
GlobeScan's approach to issues research is based on understanding the issues through primary and secondary research and then tracking the key variables over time.
Good issues research should have the following characteristics:
A sound understanding of the context of the industry and the client.
The right stakeholders are identified and recruited for interviewing.
The research is carried out by skilled and senior people. GlobeScan offers its best talent and most senior staff on each issues research project.
The research can be tracked from one period to the next. Sufficient sample size and a clear specification of stakeholders must be determined prior to field execution.