The success of an organisation is often measured on the extent that strategic objectives are achieved. History shows that the majority of negative organisational impacts have been caused by strategic issues not financial, operational or hazard.

However, whilst organisations are often very efficient in understanding the operational risk issues, organisations still so not formally identify their strategic risks. In the case of strategic objectives each one of these will have its own unique risk profile and failure to capture each risk profile will mean that senior management do not have a clear line of sight on those issues which need to be managed to ensure success. In the current climate the ability for an organisation to demonstrate robustness in their business management is proven to be crucial to install confidence in key stakeholders. Demonstrable strategic risk management provides this vehicle.

Critical questions you need to consider:

• To what extent have you formally captured the risks to each individual business objective?
• To what extent does your current risk management process capture strategic risk issues e.g. joint ventures, market entry, merger and acquisitions and projects?
• In communicating key business strategy and risk to shareholders and investors, how do you demonstrate robustness in the strategy / vision?