Companies 'unprepared for new risk landscape'

Global businesses are failing to take suitable precautions to minimise the impact of catastrophic, major-impact events.

This is according to a new paper from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which suggests that many international firms are being hindered by archaic and incomplete risk management policies that fail to take into account the realities of the present landscape.

Organisations could see their commercial capabilities seriously undermined by "black swan" events such as tsunamis, oil spills and terrorist attacks, with recent trends suggesting these are starting to occur more regularly.

Boards have therefore been urged to embed a new risk culture that values comprehensive and flexible approaches to risk planning, rather than an old-fashioned box-ticking mentality.

Armoghan Mohammed, PwC risk partner, said: "The resulting awareness and scrutiny of risk at all levels in every business decision will help to protect the organisation's reputation - and further enhance its resilience in an uncertain world."

This follows research from Gartner last month which suggested that the possible breakup of the eurozone is a key risk, for which companies should be planning ahead.