Indentifying Business Risks
Dec 28th, 2007 by admin
With all great business opportunities come a variety of risks. The key is to identify the potential pitfalls and threats in advance and have a plan in place (outlining risk reduction strategies) to prevent complete chaos or total business failure.
Don’t have a crystal ball to show you what lies ahead? Magic isn’t necessary. All you need is a good Internet connection and a little research finesse. Here’s how to uncover the risks associated with your business endeavor:
-
Go to Google (www.google.com) and do a search for secondary market research reports and White papers related to your industry. Operating in the IT space… Think Gartner, Forrester and AMR Research. Consumer products… ACNielson.
-
Look through SEC filings for public companies operating within your industry. These quarterly and annual reports often contained detailed risks and uncertainties. You can use them as a benchmark for pinpointing the threats to your business. Yahoo! Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/) is a great source, where you can even search by industry.
-
Visit the Web sites of industry associations. These organizations publish annual reports on the status, trends and issues related to key sectors.
