Strategic Risk Management

Description

Risk is good: it is a source of potentially superior profits.  Risk is bad: it can damage profitability and the future of the organisation.  A strategic risk is any risk that the organisation faces which might affect that organisation’s ability to meet its core objectives. Managing strategic risks, both risk taking and risk reducing, is a key concern of most organisations that need risky innovation but still have key baseline financial or other objectives to meet.

This unit aims to disentangle the components of strategic risk and then encourages students to create new strategic risk management processes applicable in the white heat of busy organisations. This course is intended to equip the general manager with sufficient knowledge to be an active and informed participant in organizational decisions regarding strategic risk management. Tools and techniques will be offered to bring alive conceptual frameworks and theory.

Learning objectives

Students will:

  • Understand and explain the role of risk management in a range of contextual settings
  • Recognise the strategic importance of risk management to the success of the organisation
  • Appreciate the changing nature of strategic risk management
  • Understand the impact of corporate governance regulation on risk management processes
  • Understand the role of strategic risk thinking in effective business processes and decision-making across the enterprise
  • Understand the fundamentals of building strategic risk management  processes and attitudes in organisations
  • Apply risk management knowledge relating to specific organizational functions in both domestic and international contexts
  • Utilise analytical tools, and understand different risk management perspectives which will provide a sound basis for strategic risk management decisions

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module students will be able to:

  • Recognise the importance of a risk and uncertainty management based approach to strategy development
  • Understand the contribution probability makes to strategic risk management and its limitations
  • Use a range of  tools and techniques to manage risk
  • Discuss the range of risks facing organisations in the markets and cultures they operate in
  • Recognise heuristics and biases in decision making under uncertainty and to reflect more generally on decision making
  • Reflect upon risk appetite, culture and communication
  • Consider project management risks
  • Understand the characteristics of high reliability organisations
  • Structure an enterprise risk management system
  • Recognise the importance of managing reputational risks
  • Consider the uses and controversies surrounding the major credit rating services
  • Have a process for developing a business continuity plan

Please note: This information is subject to review and change without notice.