How EADS manages risk in the value chain

Aerospace and defence specialist EADS chief risk officer Christoph Schwager has given an insight into the global operator’s enterprise risk management strategy.

“It is EADS’ ambition to identify and mitigate the risks along the supply chain as much as we can,” he says. “The challenge is to deliver our products on quality, on time and within budget.

“Because our industry is very much project-driven, it is crucial for EADS to have very well developed project risk management. We invest a lot in that.

“EADS operates in an environment with increasing complexity and dynamics, a flood of information, increasing pressure on costs and on organisational setup, and a highly volatile financial market. This increases the risk position.

“We also face ever-increasing market, regulatory, compliance and stakeholder requirements.

“Last but not least, EADS faces the risks that are inherent in organisations, increasing exponentially with the organisation’s size  and complexity. I’m talking about risk culture, organisational and individual bias, silo risk management and interface risk. 

“These risks very often hinder effective management.”