Risk is something that is unblessed. It needs to be effectively monitored and controlled. As the business grow, risk also cannot be avoided. Due to the complexity of business situation and current globalisation, the players in business are considering the best way to control and monitor risks and leads to think beyond just profitability. There are many factors contributed to risk especially dynamics in social, political, and economic environment, strong competition, rapid technological advancements, and methodological changes forces the organisations to establish strong risk management system. The introduction of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) gives them an idea to handle several risks. As ERM acceptance was increasing amongst producers and marketers, the buzzwords such as “integrated risk management”, “firmwide risk”, and “holistic risk management” was adopted with little definition as to what they really mean. The challenge presented by what is still essentially a concept, is to develop a clear picture of exactly how ERM is utilised within companies or organisations. ERM is about optimising the process with which risks are taken. It has become a critical issue in the 1990s because organisations have started suffering spectacular losses often from risks, they never should have taken in the first place. Many companies throughout the world faced big losses in the 1990s. For instance, Orange County (November 1994) lost $1.7 billion, Barings Bank (February 1995) lost $1.5 billion, Daiwa Bank (September 1995) lost $1.1 billion, and Sumitomo Corp (June 1996) lost $1.8 billion. In the last decade, numerous organisations have suffered staggering losses such as these. The problem is not with the financial tools, but the people who use them. While many financial tools are new, the problem with people acting fraudulent, or just irresponsible, has always existed. Hence, organisations need to be intelligent enough in managing their risks not only to grasp the benefit out of it but also to survive in business.

Associate Professor Ts. Dr. Norhayati Zakuan is a Director of Business Administration Department, Azman Hashim International Business School, UTM. She obtained her first degree in Mechanical Engineering from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MSc in Engineering and Manufacturing Management from Coventry University, United Kingdom and PhD in Mechanical Engineering (Quality) from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. She is a Graduate Member of the Institute of Engineering Malaysia (IEM) and Member of the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM). She has more than 15 years industrial experience before joining UTM. After graduating from her first degree, she spent 12 years in Mitsubishi Electric Malaysia as a Senior Mechanical and Quality Manager. Then, she joined COLAB Printing Ltd., United Kingdom for three years as a Technical Specialist before pursuing her master’s degree.  She had published more than 100 journal papers in WOS and SCOPUS index publication. Her current research interests are Quality Engineering and Management, Performance Measurement, Sustainable Manufacturing, Lean Manufacturing, Risk Management and Supply Chain Management.