A profound and insightful look at how company leaders prepare for and
respond to shocks and crises that threaten their business.
Successful firms strategically manage and are more accurate in their
assessment of large-scale risks. Doing so is increasingly challenging
given the pace of change, whether financial, technological, regulatory,
or environmental. Mastering Catastrophic Risk provides real-world
practical insights into how large companies are responding to this new
reality and develops a framework for smarter thinking about events that
can damage a business.
As leading authorities on risk management, strategy, and company
leadership, Howard Kunreuther and Michael Useem take us on a
groundbreaking tour of firms' decision making process. They demonstrate
how improving readiness for and resilience against future shocks is now
an integral part of company strategy. Using the "DISRUPT" model they
have developed, they highlight the seven primary Drivers of
disruption: Interdependencies increase exposure; Short-term
focus results in limited vision; Regulations require change and
constrain opportunities; Urbanization increases the costs of
disasters; Probabilities of disasters have increased; and
Transparency has enhanced public awareness of problems and impacts
on firms' reputations. This updated paperback edition includes a new
preface to address threats to business that have emerged or intensified
in the past two years including existential threats like the
coronavirus, self-inflicted calamities like the Wells Fargo customer
account scandal, and
natural disasters like the West Coast wildfires and hurricanes on the
Atlantic.
Some disruptions can be anticipated, while others arrive without
warning. Their onset stresses decision makers, impairs company
operations, and may even put the enterprise at risk. The bottom-line:
business leaders and their governing boards face ever more challenging
disruptions and must be ever more on guard. If your company is hit
tomorrow, will it bounce back, or drown?
