BusinessRisk

BUSINESS RISK ANALYSIS FROM MMA

Any business inevitably encounters uncertainty on a daily basis. Good managers take measures to chart a path through this uncertainty: avoiding some risks, mitigating the effects of others but (most importantly) judging which risks should be taken and in what circumstances in order to make a profit. Uncertainty is a threat to the ill-equipped, but provides key opportunities for profit for a well-prepared business manager. It’s not about being subject to uncertainty, we all are, it’s about being one step ahead of the competition in terms of controlling and taking best advantage of uncertainty: and that’s where the management of business risks (being threats to the achievement of your business objectives) comes in.

Business Risk Management is concerned with:

· understanding the risks and opportunities inherent in your business strategy: indeed, framing the strategy with the risks in mind

· having a clear picture of risks across your business, gathered from across all aspects of your activity

· understanding which are the most significant risks in terms of the ‘big picture’ of the overall business: filtering the risks so that your top managers see those that matter without being overloaded with lesser risks

noting all your managers will think ‘their’ risks are the most important

· deciding on where to invest in risk reduction

· making your key business decisions in the knowledge of their risk and opportunity implications.

MMA can help with all aspects of this process, for example in:

· facilitating the process of building understanding of strategic risks: through workshops or through interview-based risk assessments conducted from an independent, dispassionate standpoint

· constructing a system to identify, assemble and analyse what are your business risks: flagging up those of greater ‘big picture’ significance and managing contingency and providing reports to top management

· conducting risk assessments in respect of key decisions, such as a change of strategy, a major investment, a corporate renewal programme, an acquisition or approval of bids that are seminal to your business’ future

· fulfilling a mentoring role in being a ‘sounding board’ from a risk perspective.

Risk isn’t a peripheral issue to be delegated for consideration by junior managers among all the other tasks and disciplines: risk is crucial to business success, and should be a central and integral aspect of senior management thinking.

Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss any aspect of business risk.