Enterprise risk management : capabilities perspective and organizational forms

The present thesis draws on the concepts of Enterprise Risk Management and Dynamic Capabilities, themes that are growing in importance for their strong implications in the actual business environment. This work aims to describe the most recent tendencies in risk management issues and to propose a conceptual model, useful for different organizational structures, based on the capabilities perspective. Each capability is related to resources or processes of the specific firm and can be considered a practical tool to manage risk; thus, through capabilities it is possible to provide an operative, holistic and integrated risk management system. To investigate and describe how the model works in different organizational structures – project and non-project based – three case studies have been considered. This work contributes to spotlight on the benefits of an effective application of the Enterprise Risk Management through the use of capabilities.

Questa tesi si basa sui concetti di Enterprise Risk Management e Dynamic Capabilities, temi la cui importanza sta crescendo a causa delle loro significative implicazioni nel contesto economico attuale. Dopo aver descritto le più recenti tendenze nelle problematiche relative al risk management, questo lavoro mira a proporre un modello concettuale, valido in strutture organizzative differenti, basato sul concetto di capability. Ogni capability è collegata alle risorse o ai processi dell’azienda specifica e può essere considerata come uno strumento pratico per gestire il rischio; quindi, grazie alle capabilities è possibile fornire un sistema di gestione del rischio operativo, olistico e integrato. Per studiare e descrivere il funzionamento del modello in diverse strutture organizzative – project based e non-project based – sono stati considerati tre case studies. Questo lavoro contribuisce a mettere in luce i vantaggi di una reale applicazione dell’Enterprise Risk Management attraverso l’uso delle capabilities.