Narrative warfare, new challenge for business

 Corporate communication has a new headache now: the emergence of narrative warfare as major challenge for the business. It is a new ball game that had origins in geoeconomics now quietly creeping into the board room as an immediate threat. 

It is no longer information war where data was mainstay and facts & figures were presented by companies to the market place for understanding of the features of products and leading customers to make a right buy decision. There might be few exaggerations, but overall the info was truthful and verifiable too.

In business competition, it is alright for a company to present itself and its products in favourable light. And it is also permitted to draw the attention of the customers over similar products that are being sold by competitors that neither possess the similar features nor made in such excellent quality without ever mentioning the name of competitor or the brand.

In narrative war, the accepted custom is thrown out.  Instead of presenting facts & figures as it is, a doctored analysis of the facts is shown with the intention of bringing disrepute to the firm in question.

Put differently, the concept of narrative warfare is “use of analytical skill by the sender to bring about changes in the behaviour of receiver to make decision on the basis of falsehood rather than on real truth”. Narrative warfare is undertaken by firms to challenge opponents using brain rather than stating the facts. In any event as in military warfighting, in narrative warfare truth is the first casualty.

Faced with weaponised false narrative, firm must design business manoeuvre that have the potential to deflect damages to the standing of the firm and removing any misunderstanding by the prospective customers. The goal here is to right the wrongs in the minds of customers, who after all are “Led to believe”. Few of business manoeuvre are listed below:

1. Create alternate narrative that conveys the truth and put your firm once more in favourable light

2. Destroy the offending firms’ narrative in style by highlighting the falsehood and spotlighting the manner in which the narrative was doctored in the first place

3. Redirect the attention of the customers to the past performance of your firm and its credentials

4. As much of the narrative warfare is based on superfluous ideas rather than vital points go for a blitz on the really critical issues and the benefits that accrue to customers when he buys your products. 

 

Cheers! 

 

Muthu Ashraff Rajulu

Business Strategist

Mobile: + 94 777 265677

E-mail:   cosmicgems@gmail.com

Blog:   Business Strategist

 

Dead-end strategy over Nord Stream 2, will it succeed?

Hectic efforts are made by America to bring a halt to the completion of Nord Stream 2 which is more than 95% complete and is ready for operation by end September 2021.  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called it “Dead-End Strategy”. Will this business strategy work or backfire?

Russian firm Gazprom has mapped out win-win business strategy in formulating gas pipeline with European consumers especially Germany which alone imports more than 40 billion cubic meters (bcm) per annum. Incidentally, Russia supplies around 35% of this quantum along with Norway and Netherlands footing the balance. Of late, Netherlands is scaling back supply due to increasing domestic demand.

Gazprom the Russian energy giant, which already runs Nord Stream pipeline from Vyborg in Russia to Greifswald in Germany has planned Nord Stream 2 to augment supply to fill the shortage caused by the scaling down of supply by Netherlands. This is Nord Stream 2 which runs parallel to the existing pipeline but with a change of origination point from UST-LUGA in Russia.

Both pipelines runs through exclusive economic zones of five countries namely, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Germany and in that order. Nearly 50% of the cost is financed by five energy giants ENGIE, OMN, royal Dutch shell, Uniper and Wintershall.

The objective of the Nord Stream 2 is to supply gas to Germany and other European countries by passing transit states. A key imperative for Russia is to bypass Ukraine whose land based pipeline was used to transport gas before and after World War2 due to her difference with the current leadership in Ukraine. Second objective is to ensure uninterrupted supply of gas to Germany with aggregated capacity of 110 bcm.

The approach of completion of Nord Stream 2, which began in earnest in September 2018 has raised concerns in the minds of Americans who consider Germany as a vassal state.  In simple terms the American policy is to” keep America in, Russia out and Germany down”. Using the strategy of blocking at the dead-end, America seeks at worst to stop the project forever and at best to delay the project while extracting concessions from both Germany and Gazprom. 

As Chairman Angela Markel, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and majority of the people of Germany are backing the project to hilt, the US ability to manoeuvre is very much limited. A recent unofficial suggestion by America that she be given the right to turn off the sluice valve of gas pipeline in times of emergency is not only a hare-brain one but a non-starter! 

 

Cheers! 

 

Muthu Ashraff Rajulu

Business Strategist

Mobile: + 94 777 265677

E-mail:   cosmicgems@gmail.com

Blog:   Business Strategist

 

Stay ahead of industry curve

One of the famous statements by Michael Franzese, Ex Capo regime is so pithy and so relevant today that every business scripts it as a motto in its business competition so as to stay ahead of the industry curve in the following three broad areas: 

In business policy 

1. “Know your business well”, implores Michael Franzese. Get the hang of how to promote business in places where you are known as well as places where you are relatively unknown

2. Adopting new trends, technology and novel production & marketing systems is the big push you can give to business, along with building trust in the eyes of staff inside and customers outside

3. “Have plenty of cash reserves“, to tide over any eventuality that might come up as purchase of new business or investing additional capital in an existing product that is up for innovation. 

In workplace

1. The shared culture in business must seek to pass the benefit of your efforts to customers on one side. For example, a new product could be priced comparatively low at the introductory stage.

2. On the other side you share the cake with the staff for their contribution in making the product do well in business competition. This takes place in recruiting, rewarding and retaining quality workers with you. Put differently it is “loyalty pays” 

3.  Most importantly, everyone in the organization must be fastened to the concept of team play. The entire staff works as a team sans seeking personal glory. The undercurrent that runs is “swim or sink together”. 

In marketplace

1. At any time you give a word it is sacrosanct on you that you must keep to it. This is not casual remark to be dismissed in the course of time, but a bond which you gave to the customers & the market that you would honour it at any cost

2. “Collaborate with likeminded people” counsels Michael Franzese. You do not see customer as an opponent always. Instances arise when you have to work with him to achieve common purposes that are vital for both of you as well as preserving & promoting the industry you are in. Setting Industry regulations /standards is one such area of collaboration

3. At parallel, pragmatism dictates that you sup with the competitor as pals and compete with him for market share as opponents!

 

Cheers! 

 

Muthu Ashraff Rajulu

Business Strategist

Mobile: + 94 777 265677

E-mail:   cosmicgems@gmail.com

Blog:   Business Strategist

 

Controlling the narrative in business negotiation

Before starting meeting proper two sides engaged in business negotiation usually make opening remarks hinting what are the matters proposed to be discussed and the likely approach to be adopted. In a recent meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, US & Chinese officials did something extraordinary. In public, both parties went ballistic in sheer confrontation.  

The opening remark by the Secretary of State Antony Blinken was a sharp rebuke of China. “US would discuss our deep concerns with actions by China, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyber-attacks on the United States, economic coercion of our allies. Each of these actions threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability”.

Yang Jiechi, director of foreign affairs of China returned the compliments with equal acerbity in calm and collected manner. He delivered the following punchlines:

1.  You speak to China in a condescending way from a position of strength

2. Is this the way you conduct high level diplomatic talk? We thought the US side would follow the necessary diplomatic protocol

3.  We make our position clear. US does not have the qualifications to say that it wants to speak from a position of strength

Thereafter, what dovetailed was the narrative of rebuke of US over her own acts of human rights violations within her shores and atrocities perpetrated in many theatres in Asia, Middle-east and Africa.

What ultimately happened in addition to the heartburn created on both sides was the realizing of actual position by America that it does not always have the prerogative of controlling narrative in business negotiation. The tone and the text of the Chinese side made chink in the armour of US invincibility in the public eye in both America and China.

Although Yang Jiechi diatribe appears as reactive to the situation it hides the fact that Chinese side was expecting this kind of treatment and was well prepared to counter in such narrative that US would be cast in bad light.

What escaped the attention of many observers is, the private talk that followed the tense moment between the two countries was more cordial and that both sides achieved "substantive, serious and direct" discussion that went over the time allotted. Finally both sides have achieved what they wanted in controlling the narrative except that it came with a bolt from the blue for America. 

 

Cheers! 

 

Muthu Ashraff Rajulu

Business Strategist

Mobile: + 94 777 265677

E-mail:   cosmicgems@gmail.com

Blog:   Business Strategist