A study in enterprise risk management

MR LEE Kuan Yew's governance of Singapore was often likened in the American and other international press to the way a company is managed. Perhaps that may have been in part due to how Chairman and CEO Lee had challenged his management team to deliver results. One area in particular was in the implementation of an effective enterprise risk management (ERM) process to accomplish Singapore Inc's strategic goals and operational objectives.

ERM can be broadly defined as managing uncertainty - both the risk and opportunity arising therefrom - to create, sustain and grow value. The inaugural 1995 framework on ERM concepts and techniques based on existing risk management ideas and processes was a joint Australian-New Zealand effort. Among others that followed, two in particular are more widely used. One is the American Enterprise Risk Management - Integrated Framework published in 2004. ISO 31000:2009, Risk Management - Principles and Guidelines was released five years on.

Mr Lee could arguably have contributed to the development of the ERM framework. Part I of From Third World to First: The Singapore Story, 1965-2000 reads in many areas like a primer on ERM concepts and techniques. Some examples from the early days of Singapore Inc are discussed here to illustrate. The leadership team applied ERM concepts and techniques that included event identification, risk assessment, risk response or risk treatment, controls and monitoring. A little historical background to set the scene: