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UNCERTAINTY is as certain as certainty, much like our having to live with coalition governments. So with risk too, a four-letter word that doesn't disappear just because you don't think about it. To help handle it, here is A.V. Vedpuriswar's Enterprise Risk Management, from Vision Books (visionbk@vsnl.com).

Statistically, risk exists when a range of outcomes stares in your face and your crystal ball is not saying which one would happen, as in the case of VIP security.

Unfortunately, risk management in many organisations focuses on fluctuations in financial parameters such as interest and exchange rates, rues the author. "Just like the field of knowledge management has been dominated by software companies, risk management has been strongly associated with treasury, forex and portfolio management."

Even as you handle the hijack situation, remember that risk can never be completely eliminated, and that risk management is all about making choices and tradeoffs. Pointing out the origin of the word to be from Italian, risicare, meaning `to dare', Ved notes, "Risk is about making choices rather than waiting passively for events to unfold."

Risk comes in all shapes and sizes, and often, they don't carry a name label, so watch out. Daring is fine, and so there are risks you cannot afford not to take; yet, there are risks you cannot afford to take, Drucker would remind. The author develops a holistic model with about a dozen types of risks, ranging from capacity expansion to HR, and then devotes whole chapters for each.

A book that is risky not to read.

A low-down on law

THERE is a new truth about business strategy: "He who makes the rules makes the money." Thus announces the blurb of G. Richard Shell's Make the Rules or Your Rivals Will, from Crown Business (www.crownpublishing.com). This is a book that you should read along with your lawyer because legal strategy is an integral part of business.

"By leaving law and legal manoeuvring to your rivals, you place the fate of your business in their hands," warns Shell. As if to add to your work, there are `quirky laws' such as the one in Pennsylvania that wholesalers cannot sell beer by the six-pack.

The book packs, not six, but scores of examples, ranging from legal strategies of Indian pharma companies to the stifling cab laws in Philadelphia, from telecom to supermarkets. Do you know that copyright on Mickey Mouse was on the verge of expiry till Walt Disney Co got an extension from the government setting the new deadline as 2024? Law, didn't someone say, is a cat and mouse game, after all?

Shell shocks you with a warning: "Many tactics discussed in the book are hard-nosed and controversial." Such as: "Filing lawsuits to delay a competitor's product launch or upset a rival's plans for a public offering, striking midnight deals to get a tax break for a client or tying up a lifesaving innovation in regulatory red tape."

Sounds low? But don't forget that your rivals are ready to play the game that way.

ManageMentor@TheHindu.co.in

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