But which strategic risk dimension is the most important?

I’ve seen all those studies and slides from so many organizations and consultants that state that strategic risk is the most important risk out there that leads to lost value. I don’t think anyone disagrees with those general findings.

My academic brain keeps wanting to know more. If COSO has strategic risk in 3 dimensions is it possible for us to know which of those is the problem? In other words, is the lost value because of strategy setting, strategy alignment, or strategic execution? To me, that’s the bigger question.

Well, i’ve got this one bright graduate student helping me trying to answer this question.

Very very preliminary but the interesting finding (so far…) is:

• most value killers that are small are strategic execution related.

• the largest value killers? they are primarily strategy setting.

If we want to really help our organizations with strategic risks then we must get involved in the questions around whether we have the right strategy set!