Cultural factors represent a key challenge for organisations trying to implement consistent global risk management in emerging markets, Aon Risk Solutions said today.
The global risk management arm of Aon published new findings from its Risk Maturity Index which showed that cultural factors were the main challenge facing firms in markets including Asia-Pacific, Central America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa and South America.
Michael Joiner, associate director of enterprise risk management for Aon Global Risk Consulting, said: 'Just as an organization must consider cultural differences in its decisions around new market or product entry, it must also consider cultural differences when setting its risk management framework strategy.'
Theresa Bourdon, group managing director for Aon Global Risk Consulting in the Americas, added: 'As many businesses sharpen their focus on remaining competitive and sustainable in a world of uncertainty, this finding reminds us of the importance of starting with a solid understanding of both the environment in which an organization operates and the complexity of risks it faces.'
Other factors participants in the research were asked to consider included legal/regulatory, logistics/geographic, economic/financial and human capital/talent. Outside emerging markets, human capital/talent factors were the most frequently identified challenge for organisations with operations in North America.
For those in Australia/New Zealand and Western Europe, logistics and geographic factors topped the list.
Commenting on this, Ms Bourdon added: 'In more mature markets where risk management has historically been a key component of an organization's operations, cultural challenges are less of an issue. In these cases, organizations are able to focus on the challenges driven by legal/regulatory, economic, human capital and logistics issues.'