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Poole College of Management
Enterprise Risk Management Initiative

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Nov 1, 2011

Proactively Managing External Relationship Risk

The focus on managing third-party risk is becoming prevalent in the current business environment as more organizations turn to external providers to gain access to needed services, reduce costs, or achieve other strategic advantages. While most executives recognize the importance of thinking through risks associated with delegating key tasks to external parties, several studies suggest the extent of vendor risk assessments is lacking and they fail to be adequately resilient in holding vendors to certain risk management standards. A thought paper by Crowe Horwath presents a process for managing third-party relationship risks by utilizing a risk landscape framework. They highlight three steps to implement a successful third party risk management program.

Aug 1, 2011

Avoiding Confirmation Bias in Decision Making

Executives today are becoming even more aware of the biases within their own mind that can prevent them from making the correct decisions. One of these major biases is confirmation bias, which is the phenomenon in which people throw away any evidence as irrelevant if it contradicts their initial notion of the situation. Increased awareness of the decision making process can help executives better evaluate situations when coming to a major decision. Confirmation bias is likely to be present in any risk identification and risk assessment task as new information comes to light that might contradict our preconceived notions about a risk event. This thought paper explores twelve questions to think through before jumping into the deep end and making a major decision with an unfounded assumption as its base.

Jul 1, 2011

Managing Social Media Risks

As organizations realize the potential of social media to positively benefit their marketing and advertising strategies, they are also aware of potential risks. In a white paper published by Crowe Howarth LLP, the authors outline sources from which social media risks can originate and provides a six-step approach that an organization can use to create an effective social media risk management strategy.

Jul 1, 2011

Managing Human Capital Risk

Though companies recognize the high impact of Human Capital Risk (HCR), many still have immature HCR management processes, if any. The Conference Board researched companies based in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific to evaluate current HCR management practices. Companies with Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) indicated better HCR maturity. The research in this article also highlights a need for HR and ERM executives to engage each other more to better understand risks associated with their human capital management.

Dec 1, 2010

A Four-Step Risk Approach to Strategy Execution

Organizations are seeing the value of adopting a risk-based approach to execute strategies in order to survive in a post-recession world. This approach enables managers to focus on opportunities in strategic plans, as well as minimizing the potential impact of threats. A recent article in the Journal of Business Strategy outlines four steps to execute a strategy using a risk-based approach.

Sep 30, 2010

Data Risk Management – Applying a Holistic Approach

Due to the increasing costs associated with protecting and maintaining data, a holistic approach to data risk management is becoming essential to organizations. A whitepaper published by IBM discusses the framework and practices involved in using a holistic approach for implementing data risk management programs across organizations.

Jun 11, 2010

Current State of the Internal Audit Profession and Risk Oversight

Discover PwC's 6th annual internal audit profession report, revealing insights from over 2,000 auditors across 50+ territories.

Jun 1, 2009

Internal Audit’s Role in Managing Reputation Risk

Reputational risks and corporate missteps are having more significant impacts on bottom lines and stakeholder perceptions of companies than ever before. Therefore, companies are recognizing the importance of reputational risk and placing a greater emphasis on reputational risk management. Internal audit departments can play a significant role in helping companies manage reputational risks through their advisory and monitoring efforts.

May 1, 2009

Seven Question Guide to Assessing Your Enterprise Risk Management Practices

Risk professionals should consider seven questions in evaluating risk management tools, improving risk management practices, and assessing the state of ERM in an organization. Professionals should ask these seven questions: (1) if the risk management process really assesses risk; (2) if the risk assessment is context-driven; (3) if the risk management process address root causes of failure; (4) what business performance says about risk; (5) what the organization's risks say about its controls; (6) what the organization's controls say about its risks; and (7) if the professionals and their organizations are up for the task of risk management.

Apr 15, 2009

Importance of Risk Management Mindset

Many companies that were unprepared for the current economic situation have become hesitant to make decisions regarding the future. For companies to regain confidence in making these decisions there needs to be a realization that risk management models are only as good as the decisions that are made based on the models. As a result, the risk management mindset is just as important as the model. Companies can focus on their risk management mindset by re-defining risk to include a more integrated view of risk and constructing a new "risk architecture" that incorporates information external to the company and looks at interdependencies to help make better decisions and more successfully manage their risks.