Key highlights of CIM’s latest Talking Point

At the recently concluded CIM Talking Point Programme, the speaker Bertram Paul – General Manager of Sales and Marketing of Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC. – highlighted the importance of marketers understanding their role in risk management and ensuring that principles of risk management are practiced by them consistently so that the risk of uncertainty on the outcome of marketing decisions could be effectively managed.

Expanding on the theme of ‘Risk Management and its relevance to Marketing,’ he explained the key theoretical principles behind risk management, including the type of risks commonly encountered the possible treatment of risk and strategies to manage it.

He took the audience through an informative case study of how the investment bank Morgan Stanley, which was the largest tenant of the Twin Towers during 9/11 with 3,700 employees in the offices of the World Trade Centre in New York, used the principles of risk management to minimise the loss of lives to just six persons and also ensured business continuity during the disaster by being up and running just 20 minutes after the crisis hit.  He highlighted the fact that marketers are called to manage some of the biggest risks faced by companies such as the loss of business (customers) to competitors, the uncertainty associated with launching new products and exploring new markets, reputation management and ensuring profitable growth.  He stressed the need for marketers to be financially savvy, emphasising the fact that marketers need not prepare financial statements but the need to be able interpret them and engage in meaningful discussions with senior management and finance colleagues on the viability of proposed actions using financial metrics to justify same.  He lamented that the dearth of marketers at CEO positions was mainly due to this malaise.

Just as marketers currently use market research and market intelligence to assess the ground situation before making decisions or committing to action, he stated that marketers also need to assess the impact of proposed actions against the three pillars of economic viability, social responsibility and environmental stewardship while also checking against the criteria of legality and ethics.