ABSTRACT
Business risk assessment is the management tool that provides the critical scrutiny to identify potential vulnerabilities from the emerging challenges facing our organisation. It is the balance of resilience, responsiveness and rethink which is at the heart of business risk. Resilience looks to avoid risk through retrenchment and a return to familiar fundamentals. If the appointments process is the moment of organisational truth, then business risk assessment increases the chance of "corporate honesty". The business risk again is that a talented manager or professional sees their career aspirations as thwarted and more likely to be fulfilled elsewhere, and leaves the organisation. Business change vs business consolidation represents the second major dimension defining business outlook. "Change is the only constant" is now a management cliche. When the business has expanded rapidly, and secured its market position, the challenge is to safeguard initial success through longer-term planning and coordination, and the "routinisation" of ad-hoc policies and processes.
