issues management

1. Anticipate issues and establish priorities

This first fundamental step can take many forms, from drawing up a very

basic set of assumptions through to a highly elaborate issues anticipation

system. Setting up an internal task force, based on the approach outlined

in the previous section, is a crucial starting point. Brainstorming sessions

and database analysis should focus on responding to questions like:

●      What immediate and medium-term competitor, social or regulatory

factors do we need to contend with?

●      What changes do we anticipate in the marketplace and wider polit-

ical and social environment over the next 12 months and beyond?

●      What factors are likely to affect the way we are working?

●      What special events are likely to take place and have an impact on

our ability to sustain and develop our markets?

Once these issues are identified, priorities can be set and decisions can be

taken on how much time and resource to devote to them.

2. Analyse issues

Develop a formal brief or analysis of the issue, looking at the opportuni-

ties and threats against a series of different scenarios. This should cover

what could happen if the issue is ignored, and an assessment of how key

audiences are likely to be affected by the issue. There should also be a

summary of the direction in which the issue is likely to be heading. This

will give management a broad view of the issue and its effect on a

number of areas such as product marketing positioning, financial perfor-

mance, corporate reputation and the potential for regulation or even.

3. Recommend an organizational position on the

issue

The analysis from the previous step should provide a database to develop

a position designed to create support from the greatest majority of indi-

viduals and groups affected. The database is built from answers to the

following questions:

●      Who is affected?

●      How do the affected groups or individuals perceive the

issue?

●      What are their likely positions and behavioural inclinations?

●      What information/data can we gather to support our case?

4. Identify groups and opinion leaders who can

advance your position

These groups and individuals should emerge from asking:

●      Who makes decisions on the issue?

●      Who is likely to support our position?

●      Who is likely not to?

●      Who can we target successfully to make the biggest difference in

advancing our position?

If possible, research should be undertaken to validate assumptions made

about groups during the analysis stage. Opinion leaders, closely followed

by influential industry or employee associations, consumer and other

special interest groups and informed media, can be powerful allies in

dealing with a range of audiences, and criteria for selecting them include:

●      Who do members of our target groups look to for advice on the issue?

●      Who will the (customer, consumer) community and the wider public

trust on the issue?

●      Who has the credibility to best advance our position on the issue?

●      Who is likely to be open to our position on the issue?

5. Identify desired behaviours

This is an easy point to overlook, according to the authors. Advancing

specific behaviour relating to the company’s position drives development

of the rest of the planning processing, namely: communications and

marketing strategy, goals, objectives, messages, tactics, resource alloca-

tion and budgets.

Finally, evaluation of progress needs to be incorporated into plans to

ensure that key milestones are met, the course of the issue is charted, and

adjustments made if necessary.

Our experience from dealing with current and historic issues across

different industry sectors endorses the value of implementing the

following types of activity as early as possible, both to gain the initiative

and protect against adverse developments.

CASE STUDY: THE ASIAN TSUNAMI AND THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY

On 26 December 2004 the world witnessed the worst natural disaster in living

memory. At around 1 am (GMT) a massive undersea earthquake occurred just

off the coast of Indonesia. The quake, the most powerful for 40 years, triggered

a series of deadly tidal waves, which fanned out across the Indian Ocean. At the

time this book went to print the latest estimate was that 280,000 people in

coastal areas from Somalia to Sumatra were killed and many millions left home-

less or destitute.

Coastal areas in the northern Indonesian province of Aceh, the closest

inhabited area to the quake epicentre, took the full force of the tsunami. The

nearby Indian-controlled Andaman and Nicobar islands were also hit. Waves

measuring 10 metres in height slammed into towns and villages without

warning. Initial reports from Aceh did not even hint at the monstrous scale of

disaster, speaking of unexplained flash floods damaging bridges and roads.

Tourists enjoying the delights of southern Thailand’s beach resorts saw a wall

of water approaching at high speed. As the tsunami swept in, foreign holiday-

makers and locals alike were trapped. Many drowned in hotel rooms, others

were dragged out to sea. The deadly waves lost little of their power as they

raced across the Indian Ocean, so when they reached eastern Sri Lanka, just a

couple of hours later, they crashed into coastal areas with overwhelming force.

As the tsunami moved inshore, reducing buildings to rubble, it also hit a

passenger train. The carriages were packed with more than 1,500 people, most

of whom drowned as the train was ripped off the tracks.

The low-lying Maldives are just four metres above sea level and as the deadly

waves continued their rampage across the Indian Ocean they flooded the archi-

pelago. Locals and tourists, many of them newlyweds enjoying their honey-

moons, were left clinging to palm trees to try to avoid being swept away.

Between six and seven hours after the earthquake occurred, the waves it trig-

gered arrived on Africa’s east coast. Surging seas destroyed homes and

poisoned water supplies. Worst affected there was Somalia, where fishing

boats were engulfed by the waves and crews lost.

The scale of the Asian tsunami disaster shocked the world and instigated an

unprecedented relief effort. Government aid to the affected countries reached

US$3.5 billion and was matched by massive public donations across the world

as funds were raised to assist the survivors and the devastated region. It was a

terrible tragedy that touched every nation. The immediacy of the disaster as

news of the tsunami broke was amplified in many Western countries by the

sheer numbers of nationals present in those popular tourist destinations at that

time of year. As the story unfolded in the UK, significant attention was turned

towards the thousands of British tourists on holiday in the region. The scale and

complexity of the disaster presented an unprecedented challenge to travel

companies and the industry at large.