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The purpose of this paper is to highlight the main findings of a successfully defended doctoral thesis that studied factors or interventions causing the discrepancy between how adequate project risks should be managed and how project risks are actually managed.

The approach involved interviews and a survey using questionnaires gathered data from project managers about their experiences with project risk management during two phases of fieldwork. The first phase included in‐depth interviews with information technology (IT) project managers in order to explore patterns involving risk mediators and their influence on project risk management. A web‐based survey was used in the second phase for the purpose of testing these patterns on a wider range of project managers.

Specific risk‐related interventions strongly influence the effective use of project risk management: project managers tended to deny, avoid, ignore risks and to delay the management of risk. Risks were perceived as discomforting, not agreed upon. IT project managers were unaware of risks and considered them to be outside their scope of influence and preferred to let risks resolve themselves rather than proactively engaging with them. As a consequence, factors such as the lack of awareness of risks by IT project managers appeared to constrain the application of project risk management with the result that risk had an adverse influence on the outcome of IT projects.

The underlying rational assumptions of project risk management and the usefulness of best practice project risk management standards as a whole need to be questioned because of the occurrence of interventions such as the lack of information. IT project managers should first prevent risk‐related interventions from influencing the use of project risk management. However, if this is not possible, they should be prepared to adapt to risks influencing the project outcome.

The paper contradicts the myth of a “self‐evidently” correct project risk management approach. It defines interventions that constrain project manager's ability to manage project risk.

Introduces the basic concepts of risk management and their application to the field of facilities management (FM). Identifies the main classes of risk relevant to FM and introduces a model for determining the exposure of an organization to risk and for identifying the level of control that may be exercised over particular risks. Discusses responsibilities for risk and provides a plan of action for risk management.

States that information and help on managing business risk was sought by the Financial and Management Accounting Committee of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). Examines Pricewaterhouse‐Coopers part in this – in their guise as Global Risk Management Solutions and the guidance in an emerging area. Further discusses risk management and the interest in it, its improvement possibilities and the adoption of an integrated approach. Proposes that the implementation of risk architecture is not a response to risk but rather a paradigm shift that involves enterprises changing.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the management process considering risks and performances in developing new products.

The paper provides risk factors and performance factors based on literature reviews and then discusses risk and performance management processes during the product development period. Some lessons for effective risk management and performance measures are reported.

The timing of risk management and performance measures is important to the impact level of performance.

This proposed framework could be used as a basis for systematic management of R&D investment projects.

The paper provides insights into the R&D committee's role in developing new products.

Against the backdrop of the fledgling entrepreneurship development and the imperatives of risk management to mitigate failure, this chapter discusses the impact of risk management practice on the development of African businesses. It also considers how best to align the practice of risk management in order to achieve business continuity. More than ever before, global competitiveness and the need to trade‐out of declining profits are currently driving businesses into risk management efficiencies in order to continue achieving increased returns on assets employed/equities for their shareholders. The attainment of these growth objectives can often be affected by several types of business risk (financial and operational) coupled with unpredicted movements in prices. These movements especially in times of high volatilities impact materially on profit growth potentials regardless of how well a business is managed. This chapter suggests how African business executives can evolve their business management styles to imbed risk management at all stages.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a General Systems Theory (GST) risk management framework and conducts a preliminary investigation into its potential benefits.

A risk management framework with four domains is developed by applying GST to property. Risk management in five listed Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts (A‐REITs) is benchmarked against the GST ideal using public web‐sites information. A‐REIT volatility‐adjusted returns are calculated using Treynor ratios for the year to May 2010. The link between risk management score and entity performance is then investigated.

The GST framework directs attention to risks involving surveillance, capacity and controls. However, as predicted by the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH), the study found no link between assessed risk management and volatility‐moderated annual returns to May 2010.

The risk scoring was predicated on publicly available data, with limited analysis of financial statements. The sample size was restricted.

Successful entities are well governed, focused and innovative. Robust finances allow exploitation of emerging opportunity when business conditions become favourable. Planning and environmental management capabilities are essential.

The paper makes conceptual and practical contributions. Conceptually, it develops a GST risk management framework. Practically, albeit for a handful of entities, the paper illustrates how the GST approach to risk management could be effectively deployed. The paper also outlines a pathway for more refined risk management research.

Aims to identify awareness of and involvement in risk assessments, training, incident reporting, information giving and consenting in an acute health care context. Explores how nurse managers perceived risk management as a concept and if they saw advanced neonatal nurse practitioners having a role to play in this activity. The method used was a postal survey of 62 nurse managers or clinical specialists responsible for neonatal nursing care services within NHS Trusts in the UK. Results show that while the nurse managers studies understood the definition of risk management in general, they were more vague about certain aspects of that definition. The nurse managers appeared to be passive in their dissemination and taking forward of risk management strategies, rather than proactively “promoting and helping them forward” as may be expected in facilitative managerial behaviour. Concludes that the challenges of clinical governance demand more proactive approaches to effect and demonstrate change, and support ongoing clinical quality improvements.

This article aims to gain insights on the current state of small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) cyber risk management process and to derive future research directions.

This is done by collecting market insights from 37 recent industry surveys and structuring them based on the steps of the risk management process. From this analysis, major challenges are derived and future fields of research identified.

The results indicate that deficiencies in risk culture as well as the strained market for IT experts are the major obstacles with respect to the implementation of cyber risk management in SMEs, and that these challenges are similar across countries. The findings suggest that especially the relationship between cyber security culture and cyber risk management should be investigated further, and that a stronger link between the research streams on enterprise risk management and cyber risk management would be desirable.

This paper contributes to the literature by providing a systematic overview on the current state of SMEs' cyber risk management from a market perspective. The findings provide support for the existing academic literature by emphasizing the central role of cyber security culture (perception, knowledge, attitude) for a successful cyber risk management, which however should be addressed in more depth in future (empirical) research.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceptions of supply chain managers regarding the elements that make up cyber supply chain risk management (CSCRM) and the related level of alignment, to understand how organizations can deploy a CSCRM strategy that goes beyond the technical, internal functioning of single companies and moves beyond the dyad, to create a better alignment that can ultimately lead to improved cyber supply chain resilience.

An exploratory survey in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry involving over 100 organizations in Italy was conducted. Results were analysed through one-way analysis of variance, to appraise the differences in the perceptions of the various actors of the FMCG supply chain (Manufacturers, Logistics Service Providers, Retailers).

While a certain degree of alignment of the perceptions across the FMCG supply chain exists, the study found that Logistics Service Providers can play a crucial role as orchestrators of the CSCRM process towards a more “supply chain-oriented” response to cyber threats and risk events. The research also highlights the necessity to see people as key elements for improving cyber resilience in the supply chain.

Through a vertical analysis of a supply chain, the study extends the existing theory on CSCRM, which contains isolated case studies. It also contributes to extending the current theory with the proposal of the paradigm of Logistics Service Providers as orchestrators of the CSCRM process. The study combines different classifications of CSCRM initiatives and embraces theories external to the supply chain literature.

Through the empirical analysis, this study helps practitioners in streamlining the design of cyber security strategies and actions that span across the supply chain for better alignment. This could mean more coordination of efforts and more targeted/accurate investments in CSCRM initiatives. The study invites practitioners to ponder the perceived relevance of the human factor as a source of risk and the perceived importance of countermeasures aimed at mitigating risk events stemming from that source.

By focusing on an entire supply chain, this is one of the first studies on CSCRM that goes beyond the dyad. Its originality also lies in its use of the investigations of perceptions along the supply chain as pillars for the alignment of CSCRM strategies and mitigation initiatives. This original perspective allows for discovering the role of Logistics Service Providers in driving the alignment of the efforts towards better outcomes of the CSCRM process.

Emerging construction companies often liquidate due to their inability to institute strategies to handle their business risks. This study investigated the skills and strategies adopted by emerging contractors to overcome business risk factors to make their businesses sustainable.

A qualitative research approach was adopted for the study. Semi-structured interview questions were used to solicit information from emerging contractors within the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) Grade one (1) to four (4) in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. The data gathered were analysed using qualitative content analysis to identify the main themes.

The study's findings indicate that emerging contractors face business risk factors that impact their project execution hugely. Thus to overcome these risk factors, they implement various strategies to curtail the risk they encounter in their businesses. These strategies include; human resource management (employing experienced and skilled labour and training of staff); communication management (with other employees about set goals); financial management (effective pricing of tender documents); procurement management (ensuring materials are available as and when necessary in their projects) and quality management (ensuring effective work supervision); among others.

Although the study concentrated on the emerging construction firms in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, the findings may be applicable in other provinces and beyond South Africa.

In order for emerging contractors to prevent the collapse of their businesses, there is the need to be educated on effective project risk management to identify potential business risk, the mirage associated with the notion of the construction business profitability, effective tender pricing and strategic business partnership. These strategies, if well thought, will help sustain their businesses and growth in the construction industry.

The study has identified the management strategies used by emerging contractors to sustain their businesses in the construction industry. Thus, the finding will guide both emerging contractors who are already in the construction business and those planning to enter the construction market.