Member Article

Businesses unprepared for future risk

Businesses are not planning adequately for future opportunities and risk, new research suggests.

A new report, released by the Institute of Directors (IoD) and Barclays Commercial Bank, shows that 25% of businesses do not analyse their future external environment at all, leaving them open to risk.

The Forward Thinking Report reveals that some 26% of business directors have lost potential revenue and profit because they failed to analyse future operating environments.

Of the 75% of companies that claimed to perform forward planning and analysis, just 55% felt they did it well. The remaining 45% believed they carried out future analysis poorly or just adequately.

Graeme Leach, chief economist and director of policy at the IoD said: “In an increasingly complex world with great economic uncertainty, there has probably never been a better time to think about the future.

“If companies are to get ahead and stay ahead they must resist the temptation to place forward thinking in the ‘too difficult to do’ file.”

The research indicates that retail and wholesale companies are less likely to analyse the future external environment, with 43% admitting they do not factor this into their plans. Similarly, technology, media and telecoms are unprepared for changes to their future operating environments.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .