Our name ‘Lateral Economics’ says it all.
We do things differently so our clients reap the rewards. Policy consultants and lobbyists who simply advocate their clients’ interests achieve limited results. Influencing policy outcomes requires more than advocacy. It requires an understanding of how a complex jigsaw of interests and ideas fit together. The key is understanding the goals of a business or government agency, understanding the principal drivers of policy and the public interest, and finding new ways to fit them together.
We help firms in their dealings with government, particularly where important issues of policy are at stake, either in the process of an official inquiry, or in more direct dealings with departments and politicians. Lateral Economics can help your organisation formulate ambitious but realistic objectives in your dealings with governments and regulatory policy and we can help you achieve those objectives. We will help you understand, articulate and represent your interests with government whether that be in the context of some government inquiry or other action – or on your initiation. We can do it through submissions, the management and/or conducting of independent research, and private or public advocacy.
We can effectively ‘coach’ businesses through the public policy process. Lateral Economics’ resources become your resources: so you don’t end up looking like you’re buying ‘off the rack’ solutions from somewhere else.
We also publish newsletters in specific areas.
And we help government agencies in the process of policy formulation, analysis and training.
We have wide-ranging experience of economic reform and policy development in such areas as competition policy, environmental policy and industry policy.
Our services range from a few hours of a consultant’s time, to major exercises in public policy development, communication and advocacy: from the preparation of a submission to government, or a senior executive’s speech, to participation in strategic planning for a business or government agency.
Policy making is always constrained by the balancing of interests. But the importance and power of ideas is routinely underestimated.
Really good policy ideas solve multiple problems simultaneously. As the triumph of economic reform has shown, despite the discomfort they might entail, and their frequent reversals of political fortune, really good policy ideas have a habit of becoming unstoppable.
Nicholas Gruen, CEO, Lateral Economics