In the wake of Sarbanes-Oxley and the current economic challenges, Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) has elevated in importance and has, in fact, become more common practice.  This concept of a consistent risk tolerance has made its way into just about every aspect of financial, operational, and competitive assessment.  Our sustainability consulting views risk management, and in some cases, a formal ERM program to be a critical component of business sustainability planning and operation.

Business sustainability risk affects every aspect of a company and its external relationships. While some of the risks may be obvious, some hidden and intangible threats may prove to have the greatest impacts.  Digging into the detail, these threats to unprepared organizations or traditional business models present themselves in a number of forms: