Issues management

Issues management has been around for almost 30 years, but while it has been adopted by some major corporations a powerful strategic planning tool, it has not affected the widespread attention we believe it deserves.

In the mid-1970s, an atmosphere of increased hostility towards corporations led business communicators to rethink the role of corporate communication. The groundswell of public suspicion about private sector management was reflected through two trends. While some 40 years ago public opinion surveys reflected a clear majority in favour of the practices of business management (an 85 per cent score was typical), 35 years on that figure had slumped to around 10—15 per cent. During the same period companies, increasing subject to criticism, hired public opposition. Budgets grew tenfold, running into billions of dollars annually, but this did nothing to stop the decline of public support for corporate enterprise.

Issues management was an attempt to define the strategies that companies needed to use to counter the efforts of activist groups which were putting pressure on legislators for stricter controls of business activity. ‘Despite the billions of dollars companies ad their associations have spent on external relations business in general has been ineffective in defining and then validating its position on public policy issues’ (Jones and Chase, 1979). So, a new area of corporate communication emerged—issues management was first implemented as a way in which companies could deal with their critics.