The individual case studies were conducted with the most senior risk officer in the organization. A series of questions (Appendix A) was put together before any of the interviews took place. These were intended as a guide. Depending upon the extent of the ERM implementation, some questions were not asked. In other instances interviewers asked additional questions to gain further insight into the issues risk managers have been facing.
Interviews were conducted either in person or by telephone. The interviewer wrote up the case study from interview notes and the case study was triangulated back to the interviewee for concurrence. In some cases the interviewee had others in the organization read the material for additional observations or changes. Case studies were approved by the interviewees for inclusion in the book.
This practice was not followed for the two case studies, Risk Management Implementation in China, which was written by the author of this case. Agreeing Upon The Scope of the Project and the Job of the ERM Risk Manager was based upon an interview with the authors of this book and considered only one facet of the ERM process – negotiating the scope of the job and ERM project.
APPENDIX A – CASE STUDY INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Question Categories
What is the organization?
Legal entity: corporation, public, private, etc.?
If government institution, services provided and revenue sources?
If a business or not-for-profit, demographics: industry segment, major products, number of employees, total revenue, geographic markets, distribution channels?