Short Guides to Business Risk – serie

Does your organization have a good or bad reputation, and who takes responsibility for it? Whether viewed as an intangible asset or potential liability, damage to reputation can be costly. In the private sector loss of investor confidence can dent corporate value; in the public sector loss of public trust can lead to political change. How can anyone protect reputation from damage?

In a competitive and increasingly internationalised business world, many companies rely on the high risk/reward ratio of operating in unstable areas. Those companies willing to engage in emerging or developing countries can often be exposed to a politically volatile environment over which they have little control. Political risk, therefore, is one of the most hazardous challenges that an international business can face. In A Short Guide to Political Risk you will find a business-centric introduction to political risk that will familiarise international managers with the concept and accelerate the learning curve towards proficient and coherent political risk management. Robert McKellar explores: the key political risks that companies have faced in the recent past, and current trends in the evolution of the political risk landscape; the concept of political risk and its constituent elements; models and approaches for assessing political risk; the principal options for managing political risk, and suggestions for organisational structures to ensure a coherent and consistent approach; as well as wider issues that a company needs to consider in developing its own attitude and philosophy on political risk. A Short Guide to Political Risk is an essential introductory guide for risk managers and for all senior managers concerned with their organisation's global performance and reputation.

Following corporate scandals and the recent bankruptcy of large financial institutions, the public believes that one of the responsibilities of governments, regulators and corporate executives is to do business in compliance with basic ethical values. It is now acknowledged that there has been a general decline in ethical standards in the business world, perhaps due in part to a celebrity culture that overvalues wealth and shallow notions of 'success'. Ethics used to be discussed only by philosophers and academics, but it is now apparent to business leaders that companies wishing to survive into the future have to develop effective protection against exposure to 'ethical risk'. This Short Guide, written by a professional with diverse international experience in auditing and fraud prevention who has specialised in ethics-related issues, serves as a resource for all who need a more complete view of the subject and practical guidance to inform their daily business decisions. Providing an overview of the theories of ethics that bear on today's business world, from Adam Smith's liberalism to stakeholder theory, the Guide explains the human behaviour that gives rise to fraud and corruption in terms of a "fraud triangle theory" according to which unethical behaviours happen when three risk components - psychological pressure, opportunity and rationalisation - are present. 'Pressure' is linked to the unfortunate superstar culture, while 'opportunity' can be reduced through application of adequate control mechanisms and corporate governance models. 'Rationalisation' has to do with the ability of an honest individual to justify a dishonest action in his own eyes. Ethics bears directly on this component and an ethical approach can prevent such self-justification. The adoption of appropriate company cultures and corporate governance models, the selection and retention of ethically sound staff and implementation of fair incentive systems are all advocated by the author, who describes the roles within an organisation of the Audit Committee and the Compliance Function. Additionally, the Guide offers a range of tools that can be applied by practitioners in the field, such as codes of conduct, compliance programmes, whistle blowing procedures and risk management processes.

There is a growing awareness across both public and private sectors, that the key to embedding an effective risk culture lies in raising the general education and understanding of risk at every level in the organization. This is exactly the purpose of David Tattam's book. A Short Guide to Operational Risk provides you with a basic yet comprehensive overview of the nature of operational risk in organizations. It introduces operational risk as a component of enterprise wide risk management and takes the reader through the processes of identifying, assessing, quantifying and managing operational risk; explaining the practical aspects of how these steps can be applied to an organization using a range of management tools. The book is fully illustrated with graphs, tables and short examples, all designed to make a subject that is often poorly understood, comprehensible and engaging. A Short Guide to Operational Risk is a book to be read and shared at all levels of the organization; it offers a common understanding and language of risk that will provide individual readers with the basis to develop risk management skills, appropriate to their role in the business.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Increasingly, top executives view supply markets as sources of competitive advantage and as means of achieving strategic objectives. Procurement is the management activity that makes this happen, and this process depends on a superior risk management capability if it is be effective. Yet, despite its importance, Procurement Risk Management is surprisingly under-developed. Recent Global Risk surveys have pinpointed Supply Chain Vulnerability as one of the four key global risks for the next decade. What is less well known is that this is only half of the story ... risk exposures also exist inside the company and can be just as damaging. No company is an island; it needs suppliers as well as customers. Conventional wisdom puts great emphasis on managing certain aspects of business such as customers; operations; strategy and finances. Typically, however, much less regard is paid to external suppliers and the risks present in dealing with them. As a minimum, suppliers are the sources of materials, services and expert attention which enable the company to feed its business model. When done well, a risk-aware procurement process provides the bonus of competitive advantage, with the ability to capitalise, on the occurrence of unexpected events. This short guide explains just how to do it. Each chapter explores the topic in hand, outlines the risks and the remedies available and offers guidance on the principles and risk prevention.

A Short Guide to Fraud Risk is for: * anyone who needs to better understand fraud risks, either company-wide, or in a specific business unit; * directors and managers who would like to add value by building fraud resistance into their organization and to demonstrate to shareholders, regulators or other stakeholders that they are managing fraud risks, rather than just reacting to incidents; * regulators, auditors and compliance professionals who need to assess the effectiveness of an organisation's fraud prevention measures. The book gives a concise but thorough introduction to the risk of fraud based on a six-element strategy. It includes practical steps to assess and treat fraud risks across an organisation, including those relating to executive directors. It also provides practical steps to develop fraud awareness across an organisation and how to implement an effective fraud detection and incident management program. The application of the principles is illustrated with example documents and numerous case studies aimed at assisting the reader to implement either individual elements or a complete fraud risk management strategy.

Making risk management work means engaging people to identify, own and manage risk. Many organisations have spent considerable time and money setting up risk frameworks, processes, and supporting tools, but these have failed to deliver value. Instead, they should focus on the people.Bringing together the expertise of Ruth Murray-Webster in the human aspects of risk management and Penny Pullan’s deep expertise in facilitation, creative collaboration, and virtual leadership, this book provides tried and tested approaches to make each process step work well within the context of your own organisation and serves as a guide as to how to work effectively with groups. By translating a highly technical and complex subject into an easy-to-follow guide, this book goes beyond ‘tick-box’ approaches and provides top tips on how to engage others in developing risk management solutions and how to avoid many of the common pitfalls. This new edition includes two brand new chapters, one taking a deeper dive into the common decision-biases among groups in organisations, and one looking at remote and hybrid ways of communication and facilitation.If you are involved in trying to make risk management work, whatever the context, this book will provide you with support and practical advice, in an approachable way, supported by real-life examples and memorable illustrations.

Making risk management work means engaging people to identify, own and manage risk. Many organisations have spent considerable time and money setting up risk frameworks, processes, and supporting tools, but these have failed to deliver value. Instead, they should focus on the people.Bringing together the expertise of Ruth Murray-Webster in the human aspects of risk management and Penny Pullan’s deep expertise in facilitation, creative collaboration, and virtual leadership, this book provides tried and tested approaches to make each process step work well within the context of your own organisation and serves as a guide as to how to work effectively with groups. By translating a highly technical and complex subject into an easy-to-follow guide, this book goes beyond ‘tick-box’ approaches and provides top tips on how to engage others in developing risk management solutions and how to avoid many of the common pitfalls. This new edition includes two brand new chapters, one taking a deeper dive into the common decision-biases among groups in organisations, and one looking at remote and hybrid ways of communication and facilitation.If you are involved in trying to make risk management work, whatever the context, this book will provide you with support and practical advice, in an approachable way, supported by real-life examples and memorable illustrations.

A Short Guide to Equality Risk analyses the concepts, theories, and issues associated with the implementation in organisations and the service environment of an Equality, Diversity, and Discrimination (EDD) Agenda. Whether from a business, political, social, legal or medical view, the risks of failure of EDD compliance are escalating, be it in terms of cost, the possibility of damage to reputation, or the potential for loss of government or public sector contracts. Using the insights and specialised medico-legal knowledge he has acquired in the course of successfully defending his own rights, Tony Morden examines the subject from leadership, governance, management, opportunity, and performance-oriented perspectives. By using case studies and drawing on a growing body of international experience, the author analyses components of an EDD Agenda: equality, diversity, opportunity, and discrimination; and examines issues and dilemmas associated with implementing such an agenda. He offers a strategic and performance-oriented overview of the issues of leadership, prioritisation, management process, managing architectures, and the application of performance and risk management concepts. Written from a scholarly perspective, but in a practitioner-oriented and reader-friendly manner, this addition to the series of short guides to business risk provides a credible, strategic, and implementation-based overview of what is becoming a critically important, politically sensitive, and high risk subject.

How much risk should we take? A Short Guide to Risk Appetite sets out to help all those who need to decide how much risk can be taken in a particular risky and important situation. David Hillson and Ruth Murray-Webster introduce the RARA Model to explain the complementary and central roles of Risk Appetite and Risk Attitude, and along the way they show how other risk-related concepts fit in. Risk thresholds are the external expression of inherent risk appetite, and the challenge is how to set the right thresholds. By progressively deconstructing the RARA Model, the authors show that the essential control step is our ability to choose an appropriate risk attitude. The book contains practical guidance to setting risk thresholds that take proper account of the influences of organisational risk culture and the individual risk preferences of key stakeholders. Alongside this, individuals and organisations need to choose the risk attitude that will optimise their chances of achieving the desired objectives.

The historic growth in world trade, large container ships and information technology have triggered profound changes in international trade. A few years ago, customs officers at the border were meticulously checking goods and documents before releasing a shipment to the trader. A business could be confident that a shipment that had cleared customs complied with all applicable regulations. Today, to reduce congestion and give the trade quick access to their goods, customs have introduced risk management principles and a large number of shipments clear customs automatically. Controls have moved from the border to the trader‘s premises and it is during site visits that customs officers check the business compliance records. Moving from frontier checks to audit based controls has transferred a high level of responsibility and risk to the trader. It is now the duty of the trader to identify and report any error or irregularity and to keep an impeccable audit trail from initial quotation to receipt of payment. For the business, failing to provide satisfactory compliance records will result in delayed shipments and serious disruption in the supply chain. This will in turn impact on financial performance indicators such as Days in Inventory, Days Sales Outstanding and of course Cash Flow. The business will also have to endure in depth customs audits during which customs officers will inspect each step of the audit trail disrupting day-to-day business operation. Errors uncovered during these audits will yield heavy financial penalties and a customs debt. Ultimately, customs risk will impact on shareholders value. Customs and finance reporting should receive the same level of attention. However, if all companies check carefully their tax returns, only a few check their import or export declarations with the same scrutiny. Managing customs risk is often seen as a cost centre but it is also a source of competitive advantage. A sound customs management can reduce or remov

Climate change poses a risk to business operations and to markets, and a poor business response to this risk can lead to reputational damage, or worse. At the same time, climate change can bring opportunities for some businesses. In this addition to Gower‘s series of Short Guides to Business Risk, Professor Arnell, one of the worlds leading experts in the field, reviews this critical area of risk posed to businesses and other organisations by climate change and considers how they can respond to this threat. A Short Guide to Climate Change Risk focuses on the impacts and consequences of climate change rather than on business use of energy or business and 'sustainability' issues. The author examines the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches to addressing these risks, with international case study examples. With chapters on the nature, science and politics of climate change, on the assessment and management of climate change risks, and recommendations for incorporating climate change risks into a Company Risk Management System, this concise guide serves the needs of business students and practitioners across a wide range of sectors, public and private.

A Short Guide to Fraud Risk is for: anyone who needs to better understand fraud risks, either company-wide, or in a specific business unit; directors and managers who would like to add value by building fraud resistance into their organization and to demonstrate to shareholders, regulators or other stakeholders that they are managing fraud risks, rather than just reacting to incidents; regulators, auditors and compliance professionals who need to assess the effectiveness of an organisation's fraud prevention measures. The book gives a concise but thorough introduction to the risk of fraud based on a six-element strategy. It includes practical steps to assess and treat fraud risks across an organisation, including those relating to executive directors. It also provides practical steps to develop fraud awareness across an organisation and how to implement an effective fraud detection and incident management program. The application of the principles is illustrated with example documents and numerous case studies aimed at assisting the reader to implement either individual elements or a complete fraud risk management strategy.

Increasingly, top executives view supply markets as sources of competitive advantage and as means of achieving strategic objectives. Procurement is the management activity that makes this happen, and this process depends on a superior risk management capability if it is be effective. Yet, despite its importance, Procurement Risk Management is surprisingly under-developed. Recent Global Risk surveys have pinpointed Supply Chain Vulnerability as one of the four key global risks for the next decade. What is less well known is that this is only half of the story ... risk exposures also exist inside the company and can be just as damaging. No company is an island; it needs suppliers as well as customers. Conventional wisdom puts great emphasis on managing certain aspects of business such as customers; operations; strategy and finances. Typically, however, much less regard is paid to external suppliers and the risks present in dealing with them. As a minimum, suppliers are the sources of materials, services and expert attention which enable the company to feed its business model. When done well, a risk-aware procurement process provides the bonus of competitive advantage, with the ability to capitalise, on the occurrence of unexpected events. This short guide explains just how to do it. Each chapter explores the topic in hand, outlines the risks and the remedies available and offers guidance on the principles and risk prevention.

There is a growing awareness across both public and private sectors, that the key to embedding an effective risk culture lies in raising the general education and understanding of risk at every level in the organization. This is exactly the purpose of David Tattam's book. A Short Guide to Operational Risk provides you with a basic yet comprehensive overview of the nature of operational risk in organizations. It introduces operational risk as a component of enterprise wide risk management and takes the reader through the processes of identifying, assessing, quantifying and managing operational risk; explaining the practical aspects of how these steps can be applied to an organization using a range of management tools. The book is fully illustrated with graphs, tables and short examples, all designed to make a subject that is often poorly understood, comprehensible and engaging. A Short Guide to Operational Risk is a book to be read and shared at all levels of the organization; it offers a common understanding and language of risk that will provide individual readers with the basis to develop risk management skills, appropriate to their role in the business.

Following corporate scandals and the recent bankruptcy of large financial institutions, the public believes that one of the responsibilities of governments, regulators and corporate executives is to do business in compliance with basic ethical values. It is now acknowledged that there has been a general decline in ethical standards in the business world, perhaps due in part to a celebrity culture that overvalues wealth and shallow notions of 'success'. Ethics used to be discussed only by philosophers and academics, but it is now apparent to business leaders that companies wishing to survive into the future have to develop effective protection against exposure to 'ethical risk'. This Short Guide, written by a professional with diverse international experience in auditing and fraud prevention who has specialised in ethics-related issues, serves as a resource for all who need a more complete view of the subject and practical guidance to inform their daily business decisions. Providing an overview of the theories of ethics that bear on today's business world, from Adam Smith's liberalism to stakeholder theory, the Guide explains the human behaviour that gives rise to fraud and corruption in terms of a "fraud triangle theory" according to which unethical behaviours happen when three risk components - psychological pressure, opportunity and rationalisation - are present. 'Pressure' is linked to the unfortunate superstar culture, while 'opportunity' can be reduced through application of adequate control mechanisms and corporate governance models. 'Rationalisation' has to do with the ability of an honest individual to justify a dishonest action in his own eyes. Ethics bears directly on this component and an ethical approach can prevent such self-justification. The adoption of appropriate company cultures and corporate governance models, the selection and retention of ethically sound staff and implementation of fair incentive systems are all advocated by the author, who

In a competitive and increasingly internationalised business world, many companies rely on the high risk/reward ratio of operating in unstable areas. Those companies willing to engage in emerging or developing countries can often be exposed to a politically volatile environment over which they have little control. Political risk, therefore, is one of the most hazardous challenges that an international business can face. In A Short Guide to Political Risk you will find a business-centric introduction to political risk that will familiarise international managers with the concept and accelerate the learning curve towards proficient and coherent political risk management. Robert McKellar explores: the key political risks that companies have faced in the recent past, and current trends in the evolution of the political risk landscape; the concept of political risk and its constituent elements; models and approaches for assessing political risk; the principal options for managing political risk, and suggestions for organisational structures to ensure a coherent and consistent approach; as well as wider issues that a company needs to consider in developing its own attitude and philosophy on political risk. A Short Guide to Political Risk is an essential introductory guide for risk managers and for all senior managers concerned with their organisation's global performance and reputation.

Does your organization have a good or bad reputation, and who takes responsibility for it? Whether viewed as an intangible asset or potential liability, damage to reputation can be costly. In the private sector loss of investor confidence can dent corporate value; in the public sector loss of public trust can lead to political change. How can anyone protect reputation from damage?

Savvy managers no longer look at contracting processes and documents reactively but use them proactively to reach their business goals and minimize their risks. To succeed, these managers need a framework and A Short Guide to Contract Risk provides this. The foundation of identifying and managing contract risk is what the authors call Contract Literacy: a set of skills relevant for all who deal with contracts in their everyday business environment, ranging from general managers and CEOs to sales, procurement and project professionals and risk managers. Contracts play a major role in business success. Contracts govern companies' deals and relationships with their suppliers and customers. They impact future rights, cash flows, costs, earnings, and risks. A company's contract portfolio may be subject to greater losses than anyone realizes. Still the greatest risk in business is not taking any risks. Equipped with the concepts described in this book, business and risk managers can start to see contracts differently and to use them to find and achieve the right balance for business success and problem prevention. What makes this short guide from the authors of the acclaimed Proactive Law for Managers especially valuable, if not unique, is its down-to-earth managerial/legal approach. Using lean contracting, visualization and the tools introduced in this book, managers and lawyers can achieve legally sound contracts that function as managerial tools for well thought-out, realistic risk allocation in business deals and relationships.

A Short Guide to Equality Risk analyses the concepts, theories, and issues associated with the implementation in organisations and the service environment of an Equality, Diversity, and Discrimination (EDD) Agenda. Whether from a business, political, social, legal or medical view, the risks of failure of EDD compliance are escalating, be it in terms of cost, the possibility of damage to reputation, or the potential for loss of government or public sector contracts. Using the insights and specialised medico-legal knowledge he has acquired in the course of successfully defending his own rights, Tony Morden examines the subject from leadership, governance, management, opportunity, and performance-oriented perspectives. By using case studies and drawing on a growing body of international experience, the author analyses components of an EDD Agenda: equality, diversity, opportunity, and discrimination; and examines issues and dilemmas associated with implementing such an agenda. He offers a strategic and performance-oriented overview of the issues of leadership, prioritisation, management process, managing architectures, and the application of performance and risk management concepts. Written from a scholarly perspective, but in a practitioner-oriented and reader-friendly manner, this addition to the series of short guides to business risk provides a credible, strategic, and implementation-based overview of what is becoming a critically important, politically sensitive, and high risk subject.

The historic growth in world trade, large container ships and information technology have triggered profound changes in international trade. A few years ago, customs officers at the border were meticulously checking goods and documents before releasing a shipment to the trader. A business could be confident that a shipment that had cleared customs complied with all applicable regulations. Today, to reduce congestion and give the trade quick access to their goods, customs have introduced risk management principles and a large number of shipments clear customs automatically. Controls have moved from the border to the trader’s premises and it is during site visits that customs officers check the business compliance records. Moving from frontier checks to audit based controls has transferred a high level of responsibility and risk to the trader. It is now the duty of the trader to identify and report any error or irregularity and to keep an impeccable audit trail from initial quotation to receipt of payment. For the business, failing to provide satisfactory compliance records will result in delayed shipments and serious disruption in the supply chain. This will in turn impact on financial performance indicators such as Days in Inventory, Days Sales Outstanding and of course Cash Flow. The business will also have to endure in depth customs audits during which customs officers will inspect each step of the audit trail disrupting day-to-day business operation. Errors uncovered during these audits will yield heavy financial penalties and a customs debt. Ultimately, customs risk will impact on shareholders value. Customs and finance reporting should receive the same level of attention. However, if all companies check carefully their tax returns, only a few check their import or export declarations with the same scrutiny. Managing customs risk is often seen as a cost centre but it is also a source of competitive advantage. A sound customs management can reduce or remov

How much risk should we take? A Short Guide to Risk Appetite sets out to help all those who need to decide how much risk can be taken in a particular risky and important situation. David Hillson and Ruth Murray-Webster introduce the RARA Model to explain the complementary and central roles of Risk Appetite and Risk Attitude, and along the way they show how other risk-related concepts fit in. Risk thresholds are the external expression of inherent risk appetite, and the challenge is how to set the right thresholds. By progressively deconstructing the RARA Model, the authors show that the essential control step is our ability to choose an appropriate risk attitude. The book contains practical guidance to setting risk thresholds that take proper account of the influences of organisational risk culture and the individual risk preferences of key stakeholders. Alongside this, individuals and organisations need to choose the risk attitude that will optimise their chances of achieving the desired objectives.

Savvy managers no longer look at contracting processes and documents reactively but use them proactively to reach their business goals and minimize their risks. To succeed, these managers need a framework and A Short Guide to Contract Risk provides this. The foundation of identifying and managing contract risk is what the authors call Contract Literacy: a set of skills relevant for all who deal with contracts in their everyday business environment, ranging from general managers and CEOs to sales, procurement and project professionals and risk managers. Contracts play a major role in business success. Contracts govern companies' deals and relationships with their suppliers and customers. They impact future rights, cash flows, costs, earnings, and risks. A company's contract portfolio may be subject to greater losses than anyone realizes. Still the greatest risk in business is not taking any risks. Equipped with the concepts described in this book, business and risk managers can start to see contracts differently and to use them to find and achieve the right balance for business success and problem prevention. What makes this short guide from the authors of the acclaimed Proactive Law for Managers especially valuable, if not unique, is its down-to-earth managerial/legal approach. Using lean contracting, visualization and the tools introduced in this book, managers and lawyers can achieve legally sound contracts that function as managerial tools for well thought-out, realistic risk allocation in business deals and relationships.