Stategic Influence Handbook 2016

2 3 THALES GROUP INTERNAL THALES GROUP INTERNAL In the same way the consumers build their opinion on a new purchase by listening to a blogger or an expert in the media, the strategic Influence plays a key role on the decision-making processes of our ecosystem . This is especially true when the purpose is to position our company in a favorable position towards some Intangible criteria such as the company’s perceived expertise or reputation on various market segments or the perceived stance on geopolitical, environmental or ethical dimension for instance. In reality, our company representation or image has more impact when the message carrier is credible, trus- tworthy and independent: the trusted influencer. This is an indispensable complement to the traditional influencers, like sales, marketing, communication or public relations stakeholders, because their messages are mostly associated to, or perceived to be advanta- geous to our cause. The Strategic Influence Handbook gathers a carefully sorted list of 60 French, European, US international In- fluencers that are well respected in our ecosystem, based on an extensive study of the convergence between their activities and four Thales strategic impactful aspects: purpose, strategy, markets and internationality. Being close to the top ones will have a definite impact on the representation of our company. Additional to the Think Tanks, we have added a sample of other influencers that are playing a key role, with a different reach and impact. This randomly chosen sample of academic chairs, professional or public analysts, pro- fessional associations is a first bite on a more thorough analysis that will be done in the next version of this Handbook. INTRODUCTION Why do we need a Strategic Influence 1 ? Don’t we already generate all the necessary influence on our ecosystem? Why do we need a Strategic influence Handbook? We are pleased to present the 2nd edition of the Strategic Influence Handbook . The document was previously named International Guide of Think Tanks and the last edition was published in 2016. Contact: Pascal Vimard - Thales Group Strategic and Business Intelligence (SBI). We express a sincere gratitude to Carla Delon, trainee at Group SBI, for her important contribution 1 As described in the Chorus 2.0 - 2020 (GRP-STR-87200202), the Strategic Influence is managed by the SBI and consists in shaping prominent and credible opinion as well as thought leadership in our target market communities. It is one of the key inputs of the SBP and Country Plan elaboration. 2 If you usually collaborate with a non-mentioned Think tank or Chair please do not hesitate to give us further information about the organization. 3 We have not based our evaluation on the organization profile, size or age nor on its executives or website attractiveness.