Growing any business involves risk and uncertainty.
Risk comes from many sources, including:
- losing customers to a new competitor
- key staff leaving without the business having a succession plan or staff being injured
- important data through computer system crashes, hacks or virus attacks
- business premises are damaged
- advances in technology leading to competing new products/services winning customers away.
The level of risk faced and the chance of a risk being realised depends on the circumstances of each business.
During a growth phase, the business is exposed to a wide array of opportunities. It can be difficult to decide which opportunities should be pursued and which should not.
The business must take care not to let the pursuit of new opportunities interfere with the successful operation of the current business.
Growing a business successfully requires that the business have a robust approach to managing risk with a robust planning process, including a
risk management strategy.