Building Business Resilience: Key Steps to Effectively Integrate Risk Management Across Your Organisation

Building Business Resilience: Key Steps to Effectively Integrate Risk Management Across Your Organisation
Aon Insights Series Asia

03 of 09

This insight is part 03 of 09 in this Collection.

November 13, 2024 5 mins

Building Business Resilience: Key Steps to Effectively Integrate Risk Management Across Your Organisation

Key Steps to Effectively Integrate Risk Management Across Your Organisation

As organisations grapple with a complex web of challenges and opportunities, it takes mature risk management to build resilience and unlock innovation.

In a volatile operating environment, giving risk a seat at the leadership table is more important than ever. From a business resilience and performance perspective, it is essential to invest in an effective and responsive risk management function that is embedded in both strategic planning and executive decision-making. We recently sat down with an industry leader to discuss some of the key steps companies can take to integrate risk management and how this approach can deliver an increase in resilience and business value.

Elevating the role of risk for a whole enterprise

While enhancing the risk governance, practice and culture across an entire enterprise may seem like a daunting goal for a business covering more than 100 million consumers in Japan, Dr Gerold Knight, Chief Risk Officer for Coca Cola Bottlers Japan Inc. (CCBJI) is doing just that. One of the key steps he says, is being embedded in the executive leadership team and having a seat at the table for conversations about strategy and growth.

“I call it having an ear at the table, rather than a seat,” he says. “I get to hear about the challenges and activities of CCBJI and understand where we need to balance risk with the potential to leverage an opportunity. Over time it becomes second nature for all our leaders to be alert to these risks and opportunities.”

Linking risk to growth and elevating its value in the eyes of leaders and the business as a whole is critical. “Traditionally, risk isn’t seen as a driver of growth and innovation,” says Dr Knight. “But leaders need to be ready to take risks and not be afraid of failure.”

An increase in cadence fosters a risk-smart business culture

As with any enterprise-wide initiative, executive level support is essential for making risk a priority across the business. But it takes a whole shift in culture and behaviour to bring about a step change in risk awareness and accountability.

For risk to support business resilience, organisations must engage people at every level to become risk ‘managers’ when making plans and decisions. This requires far more frequent conversations about risk and introducing risk at critical points in both business planning, education and business as usual. At CCBJI, Dr Knight has developed a framework to embed regular engagements with risk across the business – from deep dive risk sessions with business functions to quarterly briefings with the audit and supervisory committee.

“A risk register is a way to record risks, but dialogue is the way to manage them,” says Dr Knight. “We have conversations with each of the functions about their plans and activities. Rather than telling them what their risks are, we give them a risk management mindset by asking what’s keeping them awake at night for business planning and in their day-to-day operations. As a result, they start taking ownership of evaluating the risk in their decision-making.”

“It is important to have our people alert to risks, but it is inevitable that bias will come into play. This is why we’re running AI through our deep dive conversations to validate themes we’re identifying and using an external data overlay alongside this to check if we are capturing and acting on the relevant risks.”

Dr Gerold Knight
Chief Risk Officer, Coca Cola Bottlers Japan (CCBJI)

Building Business Resilience: Key Steps to Effectively Integrate Risk Management Across Your Organisation

A complete framework to protect the business bottom line

Business resilience comes from a risk management strategy that’s designed to optimise people and assets, in good times and bad. To enhance opportunities for profitable growth and protect an organisation from negative events requires a risk framework that offers proactive and reactive measures. “At CCBJI we have our business continuity, crisis response and emergency plans in place for when a crisis occurs, so we know we have the capability to respond,” says Dr Knight. “Then we have our risk transfer strategy to support us financially. It won’t stop an incident happening, but it helps us remain viable as a business when we have a significant event or loss.”

As a business operating in Japan, CCBJI had its major risk focus on earthquake insurance. When Dr Knight started working with Aon in 2020, he looked to change the mindset from ticking the earthquake protection box to a broader approach to business risks. “In Japan it’s common to have an internal broker and to stay within the domestic market for insurance cover” he says. “Working with a global broker enabled us to do two things: look for competitive pricing on our insurance and ensure we have the right policies for the right risks. They also helped us secure parametric insurance as part of our earthquake cover. Based on agreed earthquake levels recorded by from government readers around our locations, this can trigger a very quick payment which is much easier and more effective from a claims perspective.”

“When business resilience is done well in an organisation, it achieves two things. First, it’s an enabler of profitable growth and on the flip side, when things go wrong, it’s there to protect the business and help it remain viable.”

Dr Gerold Knight
Chief Risk Officer, Coca Cola Bottlers Japan Inc. (CCBJI)

General Disclaimer

This document is not intended to address any specific situation or to provide legal, regulatory, financial, or other advice. While care has been taken in the production of this document, Aon does not warrant, represent or guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, completeness or fitness for any purpose of the document or any part of it and can accept no liability for any loss incurred in any way by any person who may rely on it. Any recipient shall be responsible for the use to which it puts this document. This document has been compiled using information available to us up to its date of publication and is subject to any qualifications made in the document.

Terms of Use

The contents herein may not be reproduced, reused, reprinted or redistributed without the expressed written consent of Aon, unless otherwise authorized by Aon. To use information contained herein, please write to our team.

Aon's Better Being Podcast

Our Better Being podcast series, hosted by Aon Chief Wellbeing Officer Rachel Fellowes, explores wellbeing strategies and resilience. This season we cover human sustainability, kindness in the workplace, how to measure wellbeing, managing grief and more.

Aon Insights Series Asia

Expert Views on Today's Risk Capital and Human Capital Issues

Aon Insights Series Pacific

Expert Views on Today's Risk Capital and Human Capital Issues

Aon Insights Series UK

Expert Views on Today's Risk Capital and Human Capital Issues

Client Trends 2025

Better Decisions Across Interconnected Risk and People Issues.

Construction and Infrastructure

The construction industry is under pressure from interconnected risks and notable macroeconomic developments. Learn how your organization can benefit from construction insurance and risk management.

Cyber Labs

Stay in the loop on today's most pressing cyber security matters.

Cyber Resilience

Our Cyber Resilience collection gives you access to Aon’s latest insights on the evolving landscape of cyber threats and risk mitigation measures. Reach out to our experts to discuss how to make the right decisions to strengthen your organization’s cyber resilience.

Employee Wellbeing

Our Employee Wellbeing collection gives you access to the latest insights from Aon's human capital team. You can also reach out to the team at any time for assistance with your employee wellbeing needs.

Environmental, Social and Governance Insights

Explore Aon's latest environmental social and governance (ESG) insights.

Q4 2023 Global Insurance Market Insights

Our Global Insurance Market Insights highlight insurance market trends across pricing, capacity, underwriting, limits, deductibles and coverages.

Regional Results

How do the top risks on business leaders’ minds differ by region and how can these risks be mitigated? Explore the regional results to learn more.

Human Capital Analytics

Our Human Capital Analytics collection gives you access to the latest insights from Aon's human capital team. Contact us to learn how Aon’s analytics capabilities helps organizations make better workforce decisions.

Human Capital Quarterly Insights Briefs

Read our collection of human capital articles that explore in depth hot topics for HR and risk professionals, including using data and analytics to measure total rewards programs, how HR and finance can better partner and the impact AI will have on the workforce.

Insights for HR

Explore our hand-picked insights for human resources professionals.

Workforce

Our Workforce Collection provides access to the latest insights from Aon’s Human Capital team on topics ranging from health and benefits, retirement and talent practices. You can reach out to our team at any time to learn how we can help address emerging workforce challenges.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Our Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) collection gives you access to the latest insights from Aon's thought leaders to help dealmakers make better decisions. Explore our latest insights and reach out to the team at any time for assistance with transaction challenges and opportunities.

Natural Resources and Energy Transition

The challenges in adopting renewable energy are changing with technological advancements, increasing market competition and numerous financial support mechanisms. Learn how your organization can benefit from our renewables solutions. 

Navigating Volatility

How do businesses navigate their way through new forms of volatility and make decisions that protect and grow their organizations?

Parametric Insurance

Our Parametric Insurance Collection provides ways your organization can benefit from this simple, straightforward and fast-paying risk transfer solution. Reach out to learn how we can help you make better decisions to manage your catastrophe exposures and near-term volatility.

Pay Transparency and Equity

Our Pay Transparency and Equity collection gives you access to the latest insights from Aon's human capital team on topics ranging from pay equity to diversity, equity and inclusion. Contact us to learn how we can help your organization address these issues.

Property Risk Management

Forecasters are predicting an extremely active 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. Take measures to build resilience to mitigate risk for hurricane-prone properties.

Technology

Our Technology Collection provides access to the latest insights from Aon's thought leaders on navigating the evolving risks and opportunities of technology. Reach out to the team to learn how we can help you use technology to make better decisions for the future.

Top 10 Global Risks

Trade, technology, weather and workforce stability are the central forces in today’s risk landscape.

Trade

Our Trade Collection gives you access to the latest insights from Aon's thought leaders on navigating the evolving risks and opportunities for international business. Reach out to our team to understand how to make better decisions around macro trends and why they matter to businesses.

Transaction Solutions Global Claims Study

Better Decisions Across Interconnected Risk and People Issues.

Weather

With a changing climate, organizations in all sectors will need to protect their people and physical assets, reduce their carbon footprint, and invest in new solutions to thrive. Our Weather Collection provides you with critical insights to be prepared.

Workforce Resilience

Our Workforce Resilience collection gives you access to the latest insights from Aon's Human Capital team. You can reach out to the team at any time for questions about how we can assess gaps and help build a more resilience workforce.

More Like This

View All