Publications

July 18, 2023

ESG risk is one of a growing number of stakeholder-centric issues falling under the greater rubric of reputation risk. High-profile, costly risk management failures at AB InBev (Bud Light), Southwest Airlines and Silicon Valley Bank indicate that it is time for risk management to be more fully integrated into corporate processes, like marketing: #letriskmanagersmanagerisk! Reputation risk management needs to be a standard area of enterprise risk management responsibility. Can we drink to that?

June 19, 2023

Data-driven independent intelligence. Among the lessons we should learn about reputation risk from Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, Credit Suisse and others is that directors need better, more objective information about what stakeholders expect: the source of reputation value.

Data-driven independent intelligence. Among the lessons we should learn about reputation risk from Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, Credit Suisse and others is that directors need better, more objective information about what stakeholders expect: the source of reputation value.

April 10, 2023

In times of panic — think Southwest Airlines, Norfolk Southern, and Silicon Valley Bank — investor moxie may give way to stock share dumps.

Panic and stock share dump. Thriving in a tornado corridor or flood plain demands fortitude and a reliable risk strategy. The same goes for investing in equity markets. In times of panic — think Southwest Airlines, Norfolk Southern and Silicon Valley Bank — investor moxie may give way to stock share dumps. […] Integrated processes, timely intelligence and good risk communications will help investors appreciate and value risk strategies and not panic.

March 16, 2023

Child labor in supply chains. Think about reputation risk management now as a potential differentiator and a competitive advantage.

The U.S. Department of Labor has now launched an investigation and said it will hold not only companies that employ child labor accountable, but the larger, better known companies that have child labor in their supply chains. The new regulatory stakeholders in companies’ supply chains bring with them investors and litigators, who had material financial consequences to activities already being followed by activists.

February 20, 2023

Mission critical risk denial can be costly. It is an ongoing reputational crisis…(due to) poor risk management and governance.

Mission critical risk denial can be costly. A holiday flight cancellation fiasco by Southwest Airlines crushed the company’s market capitalization and caused the company to take an $800 million dollar write-down for Q4 and record losses three times greater than analysts had expected. Equity returns 42 days into the crisis show Southwest trailing the Dow Jones U.S. Airlines Index by 18.4%. Had it merely kept pace with that index, Southwest’s market cap would have been more than $3.3 billion higher.

January 24, 2023

Building resilience requires a demonstrably effective, insurance-authenticated system.

Risk Strategy Authentication and Communication.If you oversee an effective reputation risk strategy process, but no one knows it, is it actually effective? This is a vital question boards of directors, senior executives, and risk professionals need to ask themselves in this era of enhanced regulatory enforcement. Building resilience requires a demonstrably effective, insurance-authenticated system.

December 23, 2022

Third party authentication (insurance as a signaling device) deters reputational attacks and mitigates crises.

Eli Lilly defused a tweet-induced reputational crisis. […] In the days since that event took place, Lilly’s stock underperformed the S&P and underperformed some of its pharmaceutical industry peers. Why the lingering effect on Lilly’s stock price? What could it have done differently? What could a company in its position do now? And how could have third party (insurance) authentication played a strategic role?

November 14, 2022

Parametric insurance ESG authentication. How can companies use parametric insurance to prove their ESG bona fides?

Parametric insurance ESG authentication. Parametric insurance, which has long been popular in disaster recovery, is gaining steam as a proxy for proving the effectiveness of ESG programs. Nir Kossovsky and Denise Williamee of insurer Steel City Re explore details of this novel ESG solution. Insurance-based authentication — a regulatory lynchpin — is a recent innovation made possible by parametric insurance solutions.