Risk Oversight: Board Lessons From Turbulent Times

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.

Changing the Way You Look at Risk

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?

Risk Management Strategies to Protect Firms Against Catastrophic Events

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 ]

Corporate Ventures and Risk Management: For Best Results, Turn Upside Down – part 1

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.

An Iconoclastic View of Risk

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.

Looking for Risk in All the Right Places

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.

The new 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.”