Guest Post by Geary Sikich (first posted on CERM ® RISK INSIGHTS – reposted here with permission)

We live in a world of consequences.  Everything that we experience is a consequence of some action, decision, reaction and/or choice.  For organizations, the consequences of a choice, action, decision and/or reaction can cascade throughout the organization and extend to its “Value Chain” rippling through all the known touchpoints and the as yet, unidentified touchpoints.

Organizations need to understand their strategic, operational and tactical capabilities and capacity to recognize, mitigate and/or capitalize on cascade effects.  As a result of the diverse nature of global business operations, geopolitical circumstances, culture, etc., there currently is a standardization gap with regard to how organizations should react to cascade effects.  This is partly due to opacity, nonlinearity and insufficient competitive/business intelligence that organizations can draw from.  This is not to say that the information does not exist.  Rather that it does not exist in a form that is readily recognizable to organizations in most cases. [Read more…]