In the globalized environment in which many businesses now operate, risks of all kinds — from physical to fiscal — continue to top the corporate agenda. Information now travels farther and faster than ever before. Consequently, companies are open to new types of risks and threats that were virtually unknown just 10 or 15 years ago. It follows then that much of the received wisdom about risk management needs to be revisited and that new approaches are in order.

Deloitte Touche tohmatsu CEO William G. Parrett participated this month in a number of meetings and discussions at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He participated in a panel  entitled "Update 2006: The Need for Effective Leadership in Addressing Global Risks," which dealt with this subject. Chaired by former U.S. State Department spokesman James P. Rubin, the session focused on how the convergence of certain geopolitical, economic and societal risks could lead to severe disruptions for business and society in the near future. Mr. Parrett's remarks addressed a number of the key risk issues companies face from an integrated and holistic perspective.

This background paper is a follow-up to his panel comments. It seeks to address some of the main dimensions of risk management and ascertain some best practices. In so doing, it aims to provide a broader framework for imagining and managing the variety of risks that modern corporations face; a variety of risks that are not isolated issues, but are part of a continuous spectrum of issues facing executives in the C-suite. Read the related press release, or learn more from the PDF file attachment below: