Ernst & Young: Strategic Business Risk 2008 — The Top 10 Risks for Global Business

The greatest strategic challenge facing leading global businesses in 2008 will continue to be regulatory and compliance risks. This is closely followed by global financial shocks, workforce and consumer aging, and the rise of emerging markets.



The Ernst &Young Strategic Top 10 Risks for Business:
– Regulatory and Compliance Risk
– Global Financial Shocks
– Aging Consumers and Workforce
– Emerging Markets
– Industry Consolidation/Transition
– Energy Shocks
– Execution of Strategic Transactions
– Cost Inflation
– Radical Greening
– Consumer Demand Shifts

Risks are inherent in every forward-looking business decision so successful risk management should be an integral part of an organization’s strategy and operations – an important dimension of good management practice. There has been a great deal of work done in the area of risk management in recent years. Ernst &Young has been engaged in significant global activity to clarify stakeholder perspectives, map management activities and identify leading practice from which all can benefit. Likewise, many companies have invested significant resources globally in risk and compliance initiatives. Financial risk and regulatory risk have been the focus of much of this effort. In both cases, there are externally determined rules and frameworks with which companies need to comply and emerging best practice guidance on processes and controls that can help. We have worked with many companies who have found that the challenge of compliance can lead to opportunities for performance improvement through improved processes and enhanced communication. Some companies are now looking more closely at their operational risks, prioritizing these and thinking about how they can manage and monitor these in a coordinated way, the result of which can again be opportunities for performance improvement. What is clear is that to gain further business advantage, companies must increasingly look at the extended risk universe, from finance and compliance risk – to operational and finally, strategic risk.



and ES Mirror