176 Posts Found

Can you predict a business disaster? In this Harvard Business Review excerpt, professors Michael D. Watkins and Max H. Bazerman outline the keys for disaster prevention: recognition, prioritization, and mobilization.

Editor’s Note: mostly pure common sense with no actual prescriptions for improvement…

Content: Article | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subject: Risk Management

In this intriguing, clearly reasoned book, McKinsey consultant Courtney argues convincingly that managers can approach uncertainty systematically. Most managers, he says, either ignore potential problems or try to map out them out in painful detail. The better approach, Courtney contends, is to classify risk (e.g., a relatively clear future, a range of possibilities or true ambiguity) and hone a strategy based on a checklist he … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Author: Hugh Courtney | Subjects: Risk Management, Strategy

New research relating to ‘extreme events’ should help senior executives to capitalise on sharp upward movements in their share price – and counteract falls.

Editor’s Note: read a challenge and response to the arguments of this article at
Content: Article | Authors: Deborah Pretty, Rory Knight | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Management, Risk Management

In this book Lewis Branscomb and Philip Auerswald address early-stage, high-tech innovation in the context of business decision making and innovation policy. The topics addressed include the extent to which purely technical risk is separable from market risk; how industrial managers make decisions on funding early-stage, high-risk technology projects; and under what circumstances government can and should act to reduce the technical risks of innovative … [ Read more ]

Content: Book | Authors: Lewis M. Branscomb, Philip E. Auerswald | Subjects: Innovation, Risk Management

The challenges facing corporate boards have grown. We have all seen how crises have affected entire business sectors. These are “turbulent times” that require plans and policies designed to prevent and/or mitigate risks and possible crises. This article looks at the latest best practices for Boards and management from a recent study by the National Association of Corporate Directors.

Content: Article | Source: Babson Insight | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Risk Management

Most corporate risk managers are more concerned about potential catastrophes and financial risk than about operational risks like fraud and mismanagement. As recent events have shown, such inattention can be fatal. Is it time to change your company’s risk management culture?

Content: Article | Authors: Craig Mindrum, Ph.D., Mark Q. Smith | Source: Outlook Journal (Accenture) | Subject: Risk Management

Wharton professor Howard Kunreuther looks at the bankruptcies of Barings Bank and Arthur Andersen, and the severe losses incurred by Union Carbide and Lloyd’s of London after a series of disasters, and he sees a common thread: How the actions of one division or plant severely damaged the whole company. In a recent paper, Kunreuther analyzes the challenges organizations face in dealing with low-probability events … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: Knowledge@Wharton | Subject: Risk Management

Launch a new product? Enter a new market? Invest in a cost reduction program? Do nothing? No matter what you do there is risk. This month Professor Allen begins a multi-part series examining the nature of risk and making decisions under risk.

Content: Article | Author: Stephen A. Allen | Source: Babson Insight | Subjects: Management, Risk Management

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That risk and uncertainty are important stimulants for life has been trumpeted by wiser observers than me. “. . . Uncertainty, far from being a symptom of imperfection, is in fact a natural property of economics, indeed, probably of all life systems. . . . Uncertainty is the name of the game in the service economy.” That’s from Orio Giarini, of the Geneva Association. Richard … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: CEO Refresher | Subject: Risk Management

The author challenges four “icons” that have grown insidiously and perniciously within the discipline of risk management: first, that “risk” is bad; second, that the primary goal of risk management is to benefit shareholders; third, that risk management is the responsibility of specialists; and, fourth, that risk can be transferred.

Content: Article | Author: H. Felix Kloman | Source: CEO Refresher | Subject: Risk Management

There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.

Content: Quotation | Subjects: Action, Risk Management

Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The ‘sure thing’ boat never gets far from shore.

Content: Quotation | Subjects: Opportunity, Risk Management

The old adage “don’t go looking for trouble” may be good advice, but not in risk management. Periodic audits of the risks that stem from every nook and cranny of the enterprise can provide a competitive advantage.

Content: Article | Author: Joanne Sammer | Source: Business Finance Magazine | Subject: Risk Management

Optimism without grounded reality is a dream. Grounded reality without optimism is boring. People who are emotionally tough are always saying, “There’s got to be a way.” Business is not life-threatening; it’s ego-threatening. And the people who are willing to risk their ego are emotionally tough.

Content: Quotation | Author: John Hamm | Source: Fast Company | Subject: Risk Management

Michael Power says we must be careful in blaming individuals for disasters. The root causes of risk are more likely to be found in the “mundane transactional life of organisations.”

Content: Article | Author: Michael Power | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Risk Management