Can the team explain your place in the value chain?
Ask the candidate to describe what you make, who uses it and why the proposed European activity matters. A component maker, equipment supplier and final-product brand should not be presented in the same way. The adviser should distinguish technical capability from the role of the local operation. For a first French investment, a journalist may need to understand a production process before a headline about innovation becomes meaningful. Clear explanation is a strategic skill.
Who understands the host territory?
Request an initial map of the audiences around the project: elected representatives, employment and training organisations, neighbours, relevant media and industrial partners. Ask which issues are known and which still need research. Do not reward invented contacts or assumptions that a positive national announcement means local acceptance. A useful adviser can describe how information will be gathered, how questions will reach the project team and how commitments will be followed over time.
Can technical claims survive a difficult interview?
Give the shortlisted team a public product or investment statement and ask it to identify ambiguous claims. What does local production mean? Which activities will be performed in Europe? What is confirmed about capacity, schedules and hiring? The exercise should produce a short evidence checklist and an understandable answer, not a more impressive adjective. Include an engineer in the assessment so that simplification does not distort the technology or suggest performance that has not been demonstrated.
How will headquarters and France work together?
Ask for the proposed approval chain, language workflow and escalation arrangements. Taiwan headquarters should retain control of group facts; the French team needs a workable process for local questions. Identify who checks numbers, who approves technical wording and who may issue an initial response when facts are incomplete. Test the arrangement against a deadline rather than accepting a diagram alone. A process that always waits for the same unavailable decision-maker will be fragile.
What proof of relevant work is available?
Ask for cases explaining the industry, assignment and outputs, with confidentiality respected. Earlier experience of a consultant can be relevant when clearly attributed. A published investment example can illustrate a method but should not be presented as the agency's work without evidence. Request a sample project brief, media Q&A or stakeholder report. These reveal how the team thinks and whether its materials help operating teams make decisions, beyond an attractive portfolio of logos.
What will the first phase deliver?
Agree on a diagnostic, a project fact sheet, a local narrative, stakeholder priorities and spokesperson preparation. Decide how the mission will be reviewed: factual consistency, usefulness of materials, response quality and the handling of questions. Avoid treating raw reach as proof of industrial credibility. Belief System can structure this initial phase around your specific investment and existing advisers. Choosing the best partner means choosing an operating method that the company can actually use.
Sources and reference points
Reference sources checked on 9 October 2026. The proposed methods and hypothetical situations are Belief System analyses. Your advisers determine the rules applicable to your project.
Continue your preparation
- How to select a European public affairs adviser for a Taiwanese semiconductor investment
- Beyond translation: how Taiwanese companies can test a European agency's bilingual judgement
- How to evaluate a European communications partner after the first 90 days
Prepare your European market entry
Public affairs · Media relations · Reputation & crisis management · GEO & AI visibility