The age old question of how to effectively measure the value of lobbying deliver seems to have been answered by a US index which has been published in this week’s Economist. Developed by a firm called Strategas the index focuses on the intensity of lobbying—expenditure as a percentage of assets—to create an index of 50 firms that is revised quarterly.
The results speak for themselves with the index outperforming the S&P 500 by 11% since 2002.
At a time when corporate budgets are squeezed and value is constantly questioned businesses at the forefront of the public policy debate facing new legislative and regulatory threats can be confident that an effective lobbying campaign will pay dividends and ROI is assured.
So looking ahead to 2012 with many businesses planning their budgets for next year, companies would be wise to ensure that they continue to invest in public affairs activity.