Extending the risk process to manage opportunities

The traditional view of risk is negative, representing loss, hazard, harm and adverse consequences. But some current risk guidelines and standards include the possibility of “upside risk” or opportunity, i.e. uncertainties that could have a beneficial effect on achieving objectives. Despite this theory, most applications of the risk process still concentrate on managing threats, and approaches to opportunity management remain patchy and reactive. The tools and techniques available to risk practitioners seem to focus attention only on the negative side of risk. This paper extends the scope of the risk process to include opportunity management explicitly.