ANRA conference 2013: risk management gives business a competitive edge

Risk management is becoming more and more of a key aspect of Italian firms. But it’s not just the well-resourced multinationals that are aware of what the profession has to offer – the country’s small firms are also enthusiastically growing their risk capacity.

“More and more firms of all sizes are realising that risk management is a strategic aspect of their business,” says Alessandro De Felice, chief risk officer at the multinational Italian energy and telecom cables firm, Prysmian Group.

“The real innovation I am seeing in Italy is in the perception of risk.

“We are now constantly seeing an increase in the attention paid to risk management and the risks faced by companies in general.

“We are not talking about ‘new risks’, rather an increase in risk culture and a perception that managing risk is a strategic issue with real advantages.”

One of these advantages is having a competitive edge, says De Felice. And exploring how risk management could provide this advantage will form part of a roundtable that De Felice will chair on the second day of the ANRA (Italian risk managers association) conference in Milan this Friday.

He says: “Italy’s economy is made up of a large number of SMEs, and in those companies risks are not fully managed or managed at all. In the current economic landscape, managing risk could give companies a real competitive advantage.

“Banks are reducing their willingness to lend money to companies and if financial institutes start to give more space to and implement sound risk management strategies they will have better tools to help the survive in tough economic times.

“It’s a provocative debate and we’ve invited various experts to the roundtable to explore this further.”

The roundtable will take place at 12:00 to 13:00 on 8 November.