Introduction

An organisation’s competitive advantage and therefore achieve long-term success is driven by two key factors:

• The efficiency and effectiveness of their processes to deliver quality products and / or services.
• The quality of their risk management, enabling them to avoid events and outcomes that damage the image or stability of the business and managing the upside risks to realise opportunities.

Many organisations when driving a business improvement programmes forget about the management of associated risks, or when implementing risk management do not realise the impact of the controls they put in place on the efficiency of their operations. It also needs to be recognised that both achieving process improvement and managing risk are, to some extent, dependant on factors the organisation can directly influence, namely:

• Partnerships
  • Internally between teams and groups
  • Externally between suppliers, clients and other stakeholders
    
    
• Resources – including utilising the skills and capabilities of staff, the quality of assets and the ability of the organisation to leverage its financial muscle

This article is a "thought piece" which explores the interrelationship between these two “Rs” (“Risk Management” and “Resources”) and two “Ps” (“Process” and "Partnerships").