Investing in understanding
30th Jun 2010
"Public affairs and communications management consultants need to have a detailed understanding of the??business environment. We must be as at home speaking to Chief Executives and investors as we are with MPs, special advisers and journalists. Equally, knowledge of the political scene is essential for successful Chief Executives, particularly as we move through this period of rapid upheaval.
We were recently??invited to speak to a group of healthcare business leaders, organised by a leading??global private equity firm with a strong presence in healthcare services, pharmaceuticals and the medtech sector.??What was clear was that despite being massively successful in their own fields of finance or healthcare, many attendees at the event were in need of better analysis about the realities of the political risks??to their businesses.
Our presentation??outlined the impact of the public spending squeeze on organisations involved in healthcare in the UK, looked at the financial pressures faced by the NHS and explored the demographic drivers for reform. We set out some of the challenges and opportunities presented by the current political and economic environment, and suggested that by understanding how policy change will alter their market, investments can be protected and revenues maximised.
We are currently seeing??a wave of interest from investors in??our political risk analysis service,??demonstrating the growing understanding in the investment community that success??in highly regulated markets (such as healthcare, education, social care) can often depend??on businesses??appreciating the political motivations behind policy decisions."