Alternate titles:
- How to Identify and Mitigate Risks in a Business?
- Running a Business? Learn About These Common Risks for Businesses.
- Everything You Need to Know About Various Business Risks.
Introduction
Running a business encompasses a wide variety of activities. It includes a lot of collaboration and partnerships. A range of internal and external factors can influence the performance of a business. While managing multiple stakeholders, companies often face multiple challenges. How can a business mitigate these risks and challenges? This blog, explore the role of public liability insurance in the risk management strategy of a company.
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Are businesses prone to risks?
Business entities are the real driving force of any economy. By offering various products and services, businesses play a significant role in promoting growth. It is also a crucial factor that promotes employment opportunities. Due to this, governments across the globe are keen on providing a conducive environment for running a business.
However, running a business has its share of challenges. With exposure to public capital and demand fluctuations, there are high chances of risks. The broad category of business risk are,
· Financial risk
· Market risk
· Legal and compliance risk
· Operational risk.
· Liability risk.
In most cases, companies already prepare a risk management plan for every financial year. Analysts and experts create future scenarios based on certain assumptions. Based on this, every company charts a risk mitigation plan. Proper stock management, public liability insurance, etc., are some common risk mitigation measures taken by businesses. Let us explore some major risks of running a business.
Risks of running a business
Usually, companies have a great appetite for achieving growth. This is crucial for their sustainability in the long run. The quest for expansion also poses a considerable amount of risk. At times, such risks can lead to shrinking profits. Eventually, many businesses find it difficult to continue operations. A thorough understanding of perceived risks can help businesses in tackling them effectively.
Loss of customers due to increased competition
Every company or service is striving to become successful in their respective sectors. With the advent of technology, the initial barriers to business entry are comparatively less. The use of social media is breaking geographical barriers with a new concept of customer acquisition. However, this is paving way for intense competition among businesses. As a result, many of them will have to work on thin profit margins to retain regular customers. At this juncture, entrepreneurs might go through a lack of adequate capital for expansion. Failure to adapt to these situations can lead to business closure.
Market fluctuations
Market fluctuations can make or break a business within a short period. Factors like automation, virtual reality, etc are creating new modes of customer engagement every single day. Such developments also influence consumer preferences to a great extent. Changing consumer preferences can impact the demand for your product/service. Any delay in gauging these sudden in the market can adversely impact your business. Nowadays, new business models such as the ‘sharing economy’ are ruling the market. For traditional businesses, it can pose a great risk of losing existing customers.
Legal hurdles
Within an increase in business competition, there is an unprecedented rise in tax evasions and financial irregularities. Due to this, legal compliance for operating a business is becoming tough. For small businesses, this can be a big challenge in terms of expertise as well as manpower requirements. Moreover, the aspect of climate change is bringing in stricter environmental laws. Any instance of non-compliance can result in hefty fines or even license cancellation. In short, small businesses have to face numerous risks in terms of legal requirements.
Irregularities in supply chain
Due to globalization, there is a much easier movement of materials between different regions. Many businesses are making use of this opportunity to achieve cost competitiveness. But, with higher dependency on international markets, there can be delays in shipping and logistics. Similarly, material loss during transit is a common occurrence. This can pose a greater risk to the timely fulfillment of customer requirements. Delays in product procurement lead to cost escalations. Irregularities in the supply chain can also affect the overall product quality. In short, all these adverse situations negatively impact your brand reputation, especially if you’re a clothing brand. To avoid losses, try hiring a proven apparel fulfillment company like Fulfyld. They will help you handle everything from storage to picking, packing, and shipping your eCommerce orders better during the difficulties and reduce unexpected costs.
Liability risks
Businesses often involve partnerships with multiple stakeholders. Even employees or regular contractors are often considered stakeholders. While dealing with stakeholders, there are chances of conflicts. Similarly, any damage to third-party property/personnel can become a liability for the business. In case of such public liability conflicts, companies end up spending a lot of money on compensation. Companies also face a high risk in the case of natural calamities or occupational hazards. Damage to equipment and personnel is also a costly affair. In many cases, companies have to go through legal proceedings and lawsuits. To mitigate these issues, a business can opt for public liability insurance.
Conclusion
Operating a business entails a lot of hardship. Apart from the daily operational challenges, firms are prone to numerous risks. Such risks can derail the growth of a business. Among the many business risks, public liability risks often pose a great threat to a firm. Liability risks can negatively impact the reputation of a business. Without a proper risk management strategy, it may even lead to a permanent closure of the business.
For businesses, public liability insurance is a great tool for protection from unexpected liabilities. It helps navigate through any unfortunate incidents. If you are a small business operating in New Zealand, check out these various public liability insurance packages.
