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In the last week's post we discussed about basics of public affairs and how it is becoming more relevant in recent times. This week, we will take our journey forward and discuss about the various tools being employed to manage this socio-political equations.

Every organization has a different view towards how to manage this set of stakeholders and many of them devises the system which works best for them. Organizations do active lobbying, offer sponsorships, deploy code of conduct, some even pay bribes, offer consultation (directly or through industry bodies), sometimes practices voluntary self-restriction or even go for legal remedies in order to manage the socio-political stakeholders. We will discuss about all these in a step by step method.

During my past experience, I have worked with an organization which followed a very strong 'code of conduct' and believed strongly in consultation and voluntary self-restriction if needed. I have also worked with an organization that strongly believed in paying brides if needed, offered sponsorships to government and non-government organizations, did heavy lobbying and even went for legal remedies as and when required to protect its business interests. Sounds contradictory? yes, it is. Organizations develop strategies based on the nature of the businesses they are in, market dynamics, the impact those may have on the society, the involvement level of socio-political stakeholders and most importantly - management's vision and ethics the company wants to follow.

In most cases, this job is assigned to an insider. I know a well known multinational company which entered India two years ago hired a public affairs professional even before they hired the CEO for India operations! The companies, which outsources the public affairs part does it for reason and is based on their specific needs. Let me give you an example, I know a US headquartered company which follows a strong code of ethics and when they were planning their India foray, they discovered that they have to bribe few officials in order to obtain certain permissions from few of the government departments (I felt ashamed while writing this but it is a known truth. I am not saying that corruption is not there in US or UK but the level of corruption we have here is sad. Here people expect money to do the job that is part of their duty!) and since they could not do it directly (and their project was getting delayed) due to the code of ethics being practiced by them worldwide; they hired the external consultants who managed the things for them and they paid a fee for their services. (You are free to read between lines) - well this is also part of public affairs. This reminds me of a particular sign I read behind a truck while I was driving on a national highway 8 couple of years ago, It read "Sau main se nabbe be-imaan, phir bhi mera bharat mahan" - when loosely translated it reads, "90 out of 100 are corrupt but then also my India is great!"

This week we end this post here. Your comments are welcome.

Next week: How to become a successful public affairs manager: a practical guide.

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