The Risk Institute

Research

Research completed by Dennis Hirsch and Aravind Chandrasekaran. The Final Report in the Business Data Ethics project examines: The threats that corporate use of advanced analytics creates for individuals and the broader society (Part III); What “data ethics” means to the companies that practice it (Part IV); Why companies pursue data ethics when the law does not require them to do so (Part V); The substantive principles that companies use to draw the line between ethical and unethical uses of advanced analytics (Part VI); The management processes (Part VII) and technologies (Part VIII) that companies use to achieve these substantive goals; and Corporate projects that use advanced analytics for the social good (Part IX).

Business Data Ethics Highlights 

New technology (FinTech) promises to expand the supply of financial services to small businesses poorly served by the banking system. Does it succeed? Isil Erel and Jack Liebersohn study the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which offered guaranteed and potentially-forgivable small-business loans to “provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll.”

FinTech Response to PPP

Because Isil Erel serves as the Academic Director of The Risk Institute, Risk Institute dollars were not used to fund this research due to conflict of interest.

Despite increased participation in the labor force, women in the U.S. still assume most of the housework and childcare. This fact has been illustrated starkly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which risks forcing a generation of working mothers out of the labor market.  In this research, Isil Erel and her coauthors explore how lowering labor market frictions for female workers affects corporate performance.

Paid Family Leave

Because Isil Erel serves as the Academic Director of The Risk Institute, Risk Institute dollars were not used to fund this research due to conflict of interest.

The Risk Institute conducted a survey in June 2020 to better understand the impacts of COVID-19 on businesses.   

COVID-19 Survey

This annual survey by The Risk Institute was created in 2014 to better understand how senior executives from both financial and non-financial industries view risk management’s role in their organization; how, if at all, they integrate risk management into business decisions; and how they structure their risk management function to support its role in the firm.

2019 Survey

How can a company improve the resilience of its supply chain processes, so that it can recover rapidly from unexpected disruptions, assure business continuity and adapt effectively to changing external conditions?

SCRAM™ is the solution. SCRAM™ is a facilitated process, supported by a computer-based toolkit, that provides a diagnostic assessment of an organization's preparedness and fitness for coping with turbulent change. The process identifies resilience gaps and then suggests enhancements that will strengthen the company's capacity to survive, adapt, and flourish - even when surprises occur.

SCRAM™