Abstract
Many business leaders believe that a comprehensive risk management system provides an essential foundation for maintaining competitive advantages. Moreover, the company is today in the need to set up this device since its environment is unstable and it is constantly changing. In the current circumstances of the virulent pandemic COVID-19, risk management is gaining importance. The majority of Moroccan companies, especially SMEs, are still in an embryonic stage with regard to the practice of risk management. It should be noted that certain SMEs have set up, in particular in the food industry, a food risk management system since this is of a regulatory nature. The results of empirical research have shown that the implementation of a quality management system or an integrated quality and food safety system in the companies promotes risk management. The risk approach is a transversal approach that allows companies to improve their operation and be resilient.
TopIntroduction
Miccolis et al. (2000) argue that corporate governance has recently experienced a trend that has resulted in an integrated approach to assess the business risks that may have an impact on the achievement of business objectives and on the development of programs relating to the management of these risks. Knechel (2002) argues that risk is considered to be the probability that the expectations of a process are not achieved. Bell & al (1997) support the idea that the capacity of a company is threatened by business risks in terms of executing business processes in an efficient manner as well as creating value in favor of the client in accordance with the strategic objectives. Boulton et al. (2000) claim that the development of information technology has resulted in organizations changing the processes they use to create value and also the emergence of new business risks. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (2001), in order to maintain competitive advantages, a comprehensive business risk management program is considered a basis by many business leaders.
By identifying the events, the company could determine those that are potential that could impact its ability to achieve its goals. Several internal and external sources could generate a set of events. Events which potentially have a negative effect then require an assessment and a reaction from the management of the company are considered as risks. At the outset and without necessarily giving importance to the potential negative or positive effect, a set of potential events is taken into account by the general direction of the company (COSO, 2004).
Event analysis can be seen as an effective process having an effect on business risk and therefore should help identify how each process supports the business to achieve its objectives and also to describe the activities that make up the process (Knechel, 2002).
Ed O’Donnell argues the idea that All of the risks threatening business processes must be considered as part of a comprehensive technique for identifying events that have a negative impact on operational performance. The ability to manage risk as a portfolio is provided by facilitating risk management as part of a business process threat assessment (KPMG, 2001). According to Bell & al. (1997), in order to highlight the independent activities that urge the business model of the company and determine its economic success, a holistic systems thinking approach is needed since it presents an effective basis for carrying out the assessment of the risk that are related to business processes.
In times of crisis, particularly that caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, risk management is of great importance for companies, which could allow them to become resilient. Showing resilience means being able to regenerate continuously. According to (Weick and Suncliffe, 2007; Christianson et al., 2009), some companies have the capacity to bounce back when they are confronted with unexpected events and shocks. On the other hand, there are some others who disappear and collapse in the face of these shocks and events.
So, the question that arises is the following: “To what extent risk management could allow Moroccan companies to become resilient in times of crisis”. This issue can be broken down into a set of sub-questions which represent the research axes of this present work, they are as follows:
1- Is there any risk management within Moroccan companies?
2- Have Moroccan companies carried out risk management taking into account the characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic?
3- Has risk management enabled Moroccan companies to be resilient in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis?
Key Terms in this Chapter
Integrated Quality and Food Safety System: Applying the principle of prevention throughout the production, processing and marketing chain is the most effective way to achieve the objective of reducing risks. It is essential, in order to obtain maximum consumer protection, that food safety and quality concerns are inseparable from food products, from the producer to the consumer.
Resilience: Originally, resilience is a physics term that defines the ability of a body or material to resist shock or deformation. The semantic field of resilience then spread to other areas: biology, psychology, economics, sociology, ecology. In the broad sense (and in particular as regards the human sciences), we can consider resilience as the capacity, for a system, to overcome the alterations caused by one or more disruptive elements, to return to its initial state and / or normal operation.
Moroccan SMEs: According to article 1 of law 53-00 forming “the Chart of the SMEs” of July 23, 2002, the SMEs is a company managed and / or administered directly by the natural persons who are the owners, co-owners or shareholders and who is not owned more than 25% of the capital or voting rights by a company, or jointly by several companies, not corresponding to the definition of an SMEs (this threshold may, however, be exceeded when the company is held by collective investment funds, capital investment companies, risk capital organizations, financial organizations authorized to call on public savings, provided that they do not exercise, individually or jointly, no control over the company). In addition, SMEs must meet the following two conditions: have a permanent workforce not exceeding 200 people, have achieved, during the last two years, either a turnover excluding tax of less than DH 75 million, or a balance sheet total of less than DH 50 million.
COVID-19 Pandemic: The COVID-19 pandemic has officially developed in Morocco since March 2, 2020. During the week of March 9 to 15, 2020, Morocco put in place measures to contain the spread of the epidemic.