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Poole College of Management
Enterprise Risk Management Initiative

All Resources

Dec 1, 2012

Managing the Risk of Disruptive Innovation

Organizations often find themselves surprised by a competitor's announcement of a new innovation. Such announcements can be hugely disruptive, and they hit the competitive environment in many forms, such as a new revolutionary business model, a completely new technology, or a new spin on an existing product or service. A December 2012 article in Harvard Business Review discusses the threat of disruptive innovation. A new product offering or a novel business model from a competitor is enough to upend any existing business and change the face of a particular market indefinitely. However, organizations can manage the risk of disruptive innovations by being proactive in regards to evaluating their own business models and those of competitors. In this HBR article, Wessel and Christensen present their approach for assessing and strategically managing the risk of disruption.

Oct 1, 2012

Applying “Big Data” to Risk Management

“Big data” is quickly building a following as a useful tool for helping managers make decisions. But what exactly is big data, and is its use actually beneficial to a business? This article from Harvard Business Review answers these two questions and more. The authors explain why digital data is perhaps more useful than ever before, and also provide real-life examples of companies using big data to make better decisions. The article also discusses five ingredients that are critical to using big data successfully in any company. Ultimately, big data could provide managers with insights into the risks facing their organizations.

Oct 1, 2012

Managing Risks of the Mobile Enterprise

Mobile devices are becoming more and more integral in the workplace today, as they are used for field work, file-sharing, and business processes. With the widespread use of mobiles, and the delicate intertwined relationship of such devices with both personal and professional lives, substantial number of risks arise that need to be managed properly in order to reap the benefits of these devices. To help organizations think about risks associated with the use of mobile devices, the Security for Business Innovation Council (SBIC) has issued an in-depth analysis of consumer mobile devices in the enterprise along with various risks that arise with the evolving technology. Furthermore, the report also provides various recommendations to manage such risks effectively over time. The following provides a summary of the report.

Aug 1, 2012

How Risk Aversion Can Hurt Your Organization

While we know we must take risks to generate returns, some programs fail to remind managers that ERM is as much about taking risks in pursuit of value as it is about risk avoidance or mitigation. Sometimes too much attention is focused on risk avoidance, which may cause some organizations to squander reasonable opportunities to grow and achieve enterprise objectives. A McKinsey & Company article explains how an overabundance of risk-averse management behavior can actually inhibit a firm from progressing at its full potential. The article outlines behavioral biases that create this risk-avoidance phenomenon among managers and offers guidelines that can help companies mitigate these behavioral biases, thus improving risk management and business performance.

Jun 1, 2012

Categorizing Risks for More Effective Risk Management

Organizations often employ a rules-based model to manage risk; however history suggests that such an approach may not be an effective way to manage all types of risk. This Harvard Business Review article provides a framework for thinking about risk management that is centered on breaking an organization’s risks into three categories. The authors demonstrate, through real-world examples, how each category of risk is best managed through certain types of risk management mechanisms. Each of these mechanisms plays a role in strengthening the organization’s overall risk management function.

Jun 1, 2012

Risk Appetite: A Conversation of Governance

Managers often view risk appetite as a highly theoretical concept: one that is determined instead of discussed, irrelevant instead of practical, or static instead of adaptive. This paradigm is due to the notion that risk appetite reflects a short term risk philosophy of the company, and the frequency of which risk appetite is viewed as being congruent with risk tolerance. The authors of this Protiviti white paper discuss the importance of developing and maintaining a risk appetite statement as well as using it to spur conversation between management and the board of directors in the governance process.

May 1, 2012

Lack of Senior Manager Support Impairs Risk Management

Here's a new twist to "risk management" one of the most damaging risks an organization may face is "management" itself. The article "Risky Management" in Disaster Recovery Journal highlights the realities of how management's attitude and embrace of risk management approaches can undermine the organization's effectiveness at managing key risk events. Although many executives understand that risk management benefits everyone, not all share this view. The article outlines three categories of management that have a negative effect on an enterprise's risk management strategies: management that ignores reasoned words, management that works against others' efforts and management that is nonexistent in the execution of a plan.

May 1, 2012

Managing Levels of Innovation Risk

The highly competitive landscape and the rapid pace of change means organizations must continually seek to innovate to survive and grow. For many, their rush to get new innovations to market overlooks critical risks that threaten the success of those initiatives. More organizations are seeing first-hand how difficult of a task it is to mitigate innovation risk. The Harvard Business Review (HBR) article "Managing Your Innovation Portfolio" highlights how organizations can, through the balance of diversifying and appropriately focusing efforts within their innovation portfolios, achieve higher returns over their long-term innovation investments. The authors of this article discuss issues dealing with managing innovation and ways to initially guide management.

May 1, 2012

Risks Associated with Product Development

With over 50 years of experience in advising companies on product development efforts, the authors of this Harvard Business Review article present six flawed assumptions that bring rise to risks associated with product development. Product development managers often follow conventional assumptions to execute their projects effectively and efficiently based on the belief that these lead to the most productive approach. But often, risks associated with product development rise due to fallacies in these assumptions causing major delays, glacial progress, and costly failures.

Feb 1, 2012

Is it Necessary to Have a Separate Risk Committee?

A hot topic in risk management discussions within organizations is the debate about whether a separate risk committee is necessary for a company to have effective enterprise risk management processes. The authors of this Conference Board article believe “It depends.” The risk management process is a very individualized process. Organizations need to take a long look in the mirror to ensure that a separate risk committee would not create more unnecessary bureaucracy. By learning the business and its strategies more intimately, the organization can determine the risk environment of the firm at a higher level, which in turn will give insights into the necessity/requirement of having a separate risk committee.