#integrated strategy

[jellyantenna]

[themokupuni]

Taiwan needs an integrated set of national security strategies

"The US already has the National Security Strategy and Pacific Partnership Strategy. Taipei needs to make similar strategic planning investments." - Michael Walsh and John Hemmings (10/7/2022)

As observed by President Joe Biden, we appear to be fast approaching an inflection point in world history. Faced with no clear enough future, the Taiwan government needs to systematically make strategic decisions on domestic and foreign policy that advance the core national security interests of the peoples of Taiwan across a range of futures. As recently noted by Walsh and Hemmings, this should start with the creation of a set of integrated national security strategies. Building on that argument, this collection of strategies should be deployable and operable across a range of geographic, functional, and community contexts. That may require supplementing the traditional strategy approach with other strategy-building activities, including scenario planning.

At the global level, the Taiwan government needs to develop a multidisciplinary and systematic national security strategy that contains realistic and time-bounded targets. This corporate strategy should be grounded in a core set of principles carefully selected by Taiwan policymakers. Candidates might include autonomy, openness, prosperity, respect, and security. The strategy should identify a core set of national security concerns that frustrate the achievement of those principles. Then, it should identify a core set of instruments for managing those national security concerns. An example would be the strategic partnerships with Japan and the United States. This set of instruments should promote extensive crosscutting cooperation and coordination among government and non-government agencies responsible for defense, democracy, development, and diplomacy. 

At the regional level, the Taiwan government needs to develop multidisciplinary and systematic national security strategies for select regions and sub-regions. Distance matters in international security affairs. Proximate sovereign states often share decision-making, collaborate on assessments, and pool resources to promote peace and security in their local neighborhoods. Among other things, this proximity can arise from administrative, cultural, economic, geographic, and historical factors. Examples include the member states of the African Union, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Commonwealth of Independent States, European Union, Pacific Islands Forum, and Organization of American States. Wherever regionalism threatens to frustrate the successful implementation of the global strategy, Taiwan policymakers should develop regional variants built around values, concerns, and instruments adapted to fit the local conditions. Obvious prospects include Europe, Pacific Islands, and Southeast Asia.

At the functional level, the Taiwan government needs to develop multidisciplinary and systematic strategies for defense, democracy, development, and diplomacy. Functionality matters in domestic and international affairs. Every government agency possesses a unique mix of cultures, missions, roles, legal authorities, ethical norms, funding mechanisms, and political interests that give rise to their own sets of biases, frameworks, processes, terminologies, and planning cultures. For these reasons, Taiwan policymakers should direct the government agencies with primary responsibility for defense, democracy, development, and diplomacy to develop functional variants built around values, concerns, and instruments adapted to fit the local conditions. Ideally, these strategies would not only communicate policy, priorities, and actions to staff, contractors, and other stakeholders. They would also communicate unity of purpose with other government agencies and partner countries. To achieve that outcome, the Taiwan government would need to make significant investments in shared assessments, planning coordination, and alignment reviews.

At the community level, the Taiwan government needs to develop a multidisciplinary and systematic strategy for security relevant groups of people who share common features and manifest collective identities. Community matters in international security affairs. Every community has its own beliefs, cultures, interests, structures, and values that impact the strategic fitness of corporate strategies. Wherever communities threaten to frustrate the successful implementation of the global strategy, Taiwan policymakers should assess those features, determine the strategic fitness, and develop community variants built around values, concerns, and instruments adapted to fit the local conditions. These strategies would help to build more empathetic relationships and take advantage of synergies. Obvious prospects include indigenous peoples and overseas Chinese.

In addition to these integrated strategies, the Taiwan government needs to develop a multidisciplinary and systematic national survival strategy that contains realistic and time-bounded targets. This strategy should identify those processes and functions that would be required to preserve nationhood in the event of occupation by the People’s Republic of China. This strategy should be grounded in its own core set of principles. Candidates might include autonomy, independence, patriotism, respect, and security. The strategy should forecast a core set of national survival concerns that would frustrate the achievement of those principles. Then, it should identify a core set of instruments for managing those national survival concerns. Examples would be nonviolent resistance and violent resistance by Taiwan nationalists. This set of instruments should promote extensive crosscutting cooperation and coordination among the government and non-government agencies forecast to exist in such a contingency.

Echoing an earlier observation by the author, the Taiwan government ideally should have one multidisciplinary team develop all of these strategies through a collaborative process making use of multiple work streams. Such an approach would help to promote systems thinking in strategy development. That not only could help to unlock efficiencies and innovations that otherwise might be missed if different teams set out to develop these strategies independent of one another. It could also help to mitigate the risk of unexpected destabilization in cross-strait relations that could arise from the strategic posture brought into existence by the interaction of these strategies.

Michael Walsh is a Senior Adjunct Fellow at Pacific Forum. 

The views expressed are his own.

[fefeman]

WOOHOO, First victory in IS!

I wouldn't have succeeded without surtr to dish out damage to the catboy!

[fefeman]

Ashlock is pretty great in IS. Her unique range allow her to reach enemies way further than expected, and from places you wouldn't think of using.

[netbiopub]

An integrated strategy for identifying new targets and inferring the mechanism of action: taking rhein as an example. Sun et al, BMC Bioinformatics. 2018; 19: 315.

[picturemorebusiness]

Your Consumers’ Emotional Factors

FindLaw’s new white paper on legal consumer behavior came to some interesting conclusions. 

The overarching takeaway in FindLaw’s newest white paper is this: when consumers find themselves facing a legal issue like a car accident or estate planning, they typically react quickly. Fueled by emotional factors such as worries over money or even jail time, they have a strong urge to find an attorney as soon as possible.

My thoughts on this takeaway go in two directions: the shift towards mobile and visual design. On the first, I think that as more and more of a consumer oriented law firm’s potential client base is mobile (and they are), that being accessible on mobile platforms is going to be key. An integrated marketing strategy that on the digital side includes a well appointed responsive site with good design and photography, engagement on one or more social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and well-honed profiles on legal directories (good profile picture!) will be necessary. Going further and making use of apps like Pickle Legal might also prove valuable. An audience “fueled by emotional factors” is going to respond viscerally and search where they’re comfortable searching.

Good photography engages viscerally and strengthens responses to websites, social media feeds and directory profiles. Just sayin’...

The white paper can be downloaded from this link. Top level conclusions can be found in this blog post. 

[digitalprof-blog]

How to Use PPC, SEO and Social Media in a Coordinated Online Campaign

An old post I developed for my company blog, but one that includes lessons that bear repeating.

  While some marketers will stress the differences between PPC, SEO, and Social Media Marketing, it is important to develop a holistic approach to online marketing.  When applied correctly, these disciplines complement and aid each other in achieving the ultimate result - increased conversions.

This may seem counterintuitive; after all, social media is for brand exposure and PPC is for sales, right?  Wrong.  Brand exposure is just one benefit of social media, just as direct conversion is only one benefit of a sound PPC campaign.  For example, as we’ll discuss later, social media can also drive viral popularity for brands, events, and more, and engage consumers in a feedback loop for your brand or company that can drive immediate sales results very cost effectively.

So how do we use PPC, SEO, and Social Media to form a successful integrated campaign?  First, let’s look at the strengths of each strategy.

PPC PPC, or paid search, utilizes paid platforms in the search engines to appear for specified search terms with carefully planned text ads. Fine-grained controls allow you to carefully monitor performance and adjust your strategy accordingly.  And, if your budget allows, you can show up for any keyword – the sky’s the limit!

Due to its immediate nature, one of the most popular uses of PPC is to drive traffic to the website (for sales, sign-ups, etc).  But PPC can also be used for branding purposes; it exposes searchers to your brand during their search - whether they click on your ad or not!

SEO Search Engine Optimization is the strategy of optimizing a website to appear in search engines for related keywords.  This involves on page factors such as content and meta data, as well as off page factors such as the backlink structure to the website.

For a long-term strategy, SEO is definitely the strongest option.  A well-planned and executed Search Engine Optimization strategy may take time to implement, but should increase slowly over time, and continue to grow with maintenance.

Social Media Marketing Social Media is how people link themselves to friends and acquaintances online.  They create and share content that they find interesting, and express their opinions on everything under the sun.

Due to the complex nature of Social Media, Social Media Marketing doesn’t fall easily into a singular role.  While it provides branding exposure, it’s also a feedback mechanism – giving you an invaluable chance to interface with your consumers and receive honest opinions and recommendations.  If you provide engaging content, it can result in a viral spread of your brand.  Social media allows you to put a face on your brand, personalize your company and interact with your fans.

Social Media is easily one of the most powerful tools in your online marketing arsenal.  However, it must be used with respect – consumers on Social Media website do not want to be interrupted with marketing.  The approach to use here is an honest, transparent appeal with a dose of personality.  Provide value to the people you are interacting with, and you will build loyalty and virality.  When you develop an actual connection with your fans, they will begin to promote you naturally.

A Coordinated Approach A coordinated campaign utilizes these three strategies for their strengths, but also recognizes the support they lend to each other.  For example, if you’re starting a new company, or just beginning to look at online marketing, PPC can lend a hand while your SEO program gets ramped up.  Once you’ve got a significant amount of organic traffic visiting your website, you can switch to a reinforcement strategy to emphasize branding, support your business during down cycles, or focus on highly competitive keywords that the website may not be able to rank for.

If you decide that you’re not quite ready to let go of paid search, you can rest easy knowing that paid and organic listings that appear together can cause an increase in click-throughs.  From the Orion Panel at SES New York recap by Bruce Clay, findings again state that using organic and paid strategies can result in higher brand awareness and a decrease in competitor brand awareness.

An engaging Social Media presence can not only increase brand loyalty, but also drive consumers to post your content – which can result in a greater and more positive back link structure.  An added bonus is the potential positive addition to reputation management.  With coordinated efforts, a few posts or tweets about an event can turn into a viral spread of information as regular followers spread the news about your event.

With this coordinated approach, you can achieve a natural growth pattern that will sustain your business over time, with fine-tuned controls that allow you to truly manage your exposure to the market.

Still Relevant Takeaway: An integrated approach to digital marketing is crucial to success.  If you are not balancing your objectives and making sure you're getting the most out of digital, you're leaving a lot on the table.  This doesn't mean that you need each and every component of any digital campaign that has ever been created, so keep your business objectives in mind when you plan your next digital program.  

If your objectives do give you a larger playground, use the opportunities to cross-reference and support all your digital tactics (and if you're into QR codes and augmented reality, support your traditional media too!) to bring a richer experience to your marketing activities.