Policy Research & Analysis
Our experience
Baird’s CMC associates have decades of experience in the sensitive field of policy research and analysis. We are as comfortable working for heads of state as we are for product managers.
Our research work has helped manage the entry of global brands into the dynamic environments of the some of the world’s biggest emerging markets and been the basis for influencing the highest levels of policy decision-making internationally. This research is an ideal foundation for stakeholder management strategies.
Whether it is a possible change in government in a state in India or a new bill passed on clinical trials in São Paulo, Baird’s CMC can leverage its network to get you the information you need to inform your strategy. Civil society organisations, activists, bureaucrats, politicians, the media and healthcare professionals are all possible influencers on policy. We help you navigate and build your relationships with each of these stakeholders.
What we’ve done
- A 47-country study of health and research priorities in sub-Saharan Africa for the European and Developing Country Clinical Trials Partnership, an agency of the European Commission. It analysed which stakeholders were important in each country
- South Africa was one of two finalist countries bidding to become home to the Square Kilometre Array, a €2.6 billion project to build the world’s largest radio telescope (that will, in fact, span 11 African countries). South Africa was seen as an outsider since Australia, the other finalist, had a long history of such projects. Baird’s CMC was retained by the Government of South Africa to help build understanding of the unique strengths of the country’s proposal amongst officials, ministers, legislators, scientific opinion leaders and journalists in the countries which would decide on the future of the project (these included Canada, China, France, India, Italy and the UK). The first step was to understand which stakeholders influence which decisions and which thought what. We worked closely with South African diplomatic missions and specialised SA teams in Brussels and Washington to host events in cities including London, Paris, Shanghai and Washington DC. We also managed familiarisation projects and helped journalists in writing accurate, authoritative stories
- Over a five-year period, Baird’s CMC worked with the most senior communications staff of the head of state of a middle eastern nation in its missions in Europe and North America. We also worked on other ad hoc media and stakeholder assignments for the Government and supported a number of visits by the head of state to countries including Germany, India, Kenya, Pakistan and the UK. A key part of the assignment was understanding which political, civil society and media stakeholders were important to which objectives and how each was aligned
- Identification of the 200 most influential people in the world on HIV policy, how they interacted and which led which areas of discussion. The project included organising independent expert review and validation of our findings
- Conducting policy research to gauge the likely future direction of European policy on overseas development assistance, in particular for spending on family planning, HIV and hepatitis. We looked at which stakeholders would support, seek to modify or oppose ODA
- A continuing project on India’s likely approach to access to medicines and to purchasing, pricing and intellectual property. We looked at all important business, civil society, political and professional stakeholders. Clients for this work have included PhRMA, major pharmaceutical companies and NGOs
- An analysis of which oncology opinion leaders affected which reimbursement decisions in five key European markets for a multinational company