Abstract
In recent years, a vast number of regulators and normative guidelines have suggested new approaches to managing risk in corporate settings. Emphasis has been on strategies for managing operational risk and the benefits of a more integrated approach to the overall risks affecting a company. However, it is unclear whether these 'new' approaches to risk management have been accepted and implemented by the industry. Based on interviews with 20 experienced chief risk officers working in Swedish industry, this explorative study aims at investigating and analyzing current opinions and considerations on the implementation of operational risk management (ORM). The development towards more integrated risk management approaches as proposed in Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) is also in focus. The results of the interviews indicate that the Swedish industry approach to ORM is today rarely a strictly formalized, straightforward activity. Instead informal, decentralized, pragmatic, bottom-up approaches to ORM are preferred over an ERM approach to overall risk exposures. The respondents stressed that their companies' activities with ORM had been guided by the Swedish regulatory (precautionary) approach, notably regarding environmental and occupational risk. Stakeholders such as the financial markets and insurers, as well as various guidelines and policy documents relating to corporate responsibility and corporate governance had further directed the development. However, as a result of stricter international regulation relating to ORM and ERM, it is likely that incentives for more formalized risk management approaches will emerge also in Sweden.