They face increasing demands for performance from shareholders and other stakeholders. Their markets are globalizing while their industries are consolidating. New competitors, often riding the crest of a new technology, can arise from unexpected quarters-whether from another part of the world or from what had been an unrelated industry. Governments, regulators, and the courts can rewrite the rules of anybody's game at almost any time.
All business is risky business.
It's no wonder, then, that senior managers are paying greater attention to risk management as a strategic function. But our experience with clients suggests that they are not always certain about what they should be doing to manage risks strategically or how to do it. This uncertainty was reflected in the results of our recent survey of executives in the insurance sector, Enterprise Risk Management in the Insurance Industry, A Benchmarking Report, to be subsequently reported on in this space. For instance, insurance company executives, like those in other sectors, say they want to manage all risks in an integrated way. However, as our survey discovered, most risk management activity in that industry focuses on financial strategies to deal with financial risks.