From Enron and WorldCom to the more recent financial crisis, events of the last decade have fundamentally shifted how organizations think about risk. Companies around the world have made substantial investments in personnel, processes and technology to help mitigate and control business risk. Historically, these risk investments have focused primarily on financial controls and regulatory compliance.
However, these investments have often not addressed more strategic business risk areas. As a result, senior executives may not perceive risk management as strategic to the enterprise. Senior executives also may not have sufficient confidence in their ability to identify and address the risks that could impact the financial performance − or even the viability — of their organization.
A strategic question presents itself: “Do organizations with more mature risk management practices outperform their peers financially?”
Our research and experience tend to suggest “yes!”