Worldwide business risks increased sharply over the past three months, according to new research from the Economist Intelligence Unit based on a survey of international risk managers. The findings, which are taken from the Economist Intelligence Unit's new Corporate Risk Barometer, indicate that business risk increased most significantly in the US, the Middle East and Russia in the first quarter of 2005. The findings show firms believe business risks in the US are increasing much more rapidly than in Europe or Japan.
Global risk hotspots: a business perspective
The Risk Barometer survey asks executives to indicate whether risk is increasing or decreasing in a number of major global markets. According to the survey, risk managers believe business risks have increased significantly in the Middle East, Russia and the US over the past three months. Financial services companies are even more concerned about business risk in the US, scoring it highest in the Regional Risk Barometer out of a choice of 14 countries and regions. The Barometer score for risk across the world was also high, indicating that the majority of executives in the survey believe that the global business environment has become more risky in recent months.
Categories of risk
The most significant issues facing business today, according to respondents to the first Risk Barometer survey, are reputational risk (defined as the threat of any event that can damage a company's reputation) and regulatory risk (defined as problems caused by new or existing regulations).