STRATEGY & RISK
OVERSIGHT
David F. Larcker and Brian Tayan
Corporate Governance Research Initiative
Stanford Graduate School of Business
STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT AND OVERSIGHT
• One of the primary responsibilities of the board is to “ensure the strategic
guidance of the company.” - OECD
• Directors should “constructively challenge and help develop proposals on
strategy.” - U.K. Corporate Governance Code
• Directors consider strategic planning and oversight to be their most
important responsibility. – NACD
How exactly does the board perform this function?
STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT AND OVERSIGHT
• Strategy development and oversight involves four steps:
1. Define the corporate strategy.
2. Develop and test business model.
3. Identify key performance indicators.
4. Identify and develop processes to mitigate risk.
• Board does not perform these tasks (management does).
• Board evaluates and tests the work of management to ensure that it
appropriately builds and protects shareholder value.
STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT AND OVERSIGHT
Management Board of Directors
CORPORATE STRATEGY
Proposes “How will we create value?” Reviews
BUSINESS MODEL
Develops “How does strategy translate into value?” Tests
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Identifies “How will we measure our performance?” Monitors
RISK MANAGEMENT
Identifies “What can go wrong?” Reviews
CORPORATE STRATEGY
• Identify the organization’s overarching mission.
• Identify the process by which the company expects to create long-term
value.
– Scope: The activities the firm will participate in.
– Markets: The markets it will participate in.
– Advantage: The advantages that ensure it can compete.
– Resources: The resources required to compete.
– Environment: Market factors that influence competition.
– Stakeholders: Internal/external constituents that influence firm’s
activities.
CONSIDERATIONS IN DEVELOPING THE STRATEGY
• Strategy development may not be a formal (linear) process.
• Company might refine strategy over time (iterative) or stumble on strategy
and articulate it later (random).
• Board needs to understand how the specific strategy was selected and
when to change approach.
– Is management anchoring on current activities?
– Does the strategy bind the future too closely to the past?
– Does management understand the dynamics, pressures and resources required
to achieve company objectives?
– Is there proper information sharing across functions?
BUSINESS MODEL
• Develop a causal business model that explains how the corporate strategy
translates into shareholder value.
• A business model links specific financial and nonfinancial measures in a
logical chain to delineate how the firm’s activities create value.
• The business model lays out a concrete plan that can be tested through
statistical analysis.
• It then provides the long-term basis for measuring management
performance and awarding compensation.
EXAMPLE: INVESTMENT ADVISORY FIRM
• Customers invest more assets with the firm when they are satisfied with
their advisor.
• How do investment advisors drive customer satisfaction?
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CONSIDERATIONS IN DEVELOPING BUSINESS MODEL
• The business model is based on rigorous, statistical analysis (not
management intuition).
• Board relies on business model to test management assumptions and
satisfy itself that the strategy is sound.
• Board evaluates for logical consistency, realism of targets, and statistical
evidence that relationships are valid.
• Board should be aware of challenges.
– Management might take shortcuts.
– Management might resist scrutiny.
– Relevant data might be difficult to obtain.
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
• Key performance indicators (KPIs) are the financial and nonfinancial
metrics that validly reflect current and future performance.
• KPIs should be used to track performance and to award compensation.
MEASURES USED TO DETERMINE CORPORATE PERFORMANCE
ACCOUNTING METRICS % OTHER METRICS %
EARNINGS 61% BUSINESS UNIT PERFORMANCE 3%
SALES 24% CUSTOMER RELATED METRICS 4%
PROFIT MARGINS 7% INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE 13%
RETURN ON ASSETS 4% OTHER OPERATING METRICS 9%
RETURN ON EQUITY 8% SAME STORE SALES 3%
RETURN ON INVESTMENT 18% OTHER 80%
CASH FLOW 11%
ECONOMIC VALUE ADDED (EVA) 2%
OTHER 17% NUMBER OF COMPANIES 1,128
Bettis, Bizjak, Coles, and Kalpathy (2013)
CONSIDERATIONS IN DEVELOPING KPIS
• Sensitivity: How sensitive is the measure to performance?
• Precision: How much measurement error is embedded?
• Verifiability: Can measure be audited or verified?
• Objectivity: Is measure objective (# of safety incidents) or
subjective (level of employee
commitment)?
• Dimension: Would measure be interpreted differently if
expressed differently (#, %,
survey scale, yes/no, etc.)?
• Interpretation: What attribute is measured (i.e., does product failure
HOW ARE BOARDS DOING?
• There is a surprising disconnect between the metrics that are important
drivers of firm performance and the KPIs companies actually use to track
results.
– >90% of directors believe nonfinancial KPIs are critical.
– <50% get good information on nonfinancial KPIs.
• There does not appear to be a good reason.
– 59% say that the company has “undeveloped tools for analyzing such
measures.”
If true, this is a serious lapse in oversight by boards.
Deloitte (2004, 2007)
RISK AND TOLERANCE
• Risk represents the likelihood and severity of loss from unexpected or
uncontrollable outcomes.
• Risk cannot be separated from the corporate strategy. They are
intimately related.
• Each company must decide its risk tolerance. This decision should involve
the active participation of the board.
• The risks that the firm is willing to accept should be managed in the context
of the strategy.
• The risks that the firm is unwilling to accept should be hedged or
transferred to a third party (insurance, derivatives, etc.).
RISKS TO THE BUSINESS MODEL
• The risks facing an organization are comprehensive and touch all aspects of
its activities (operations, finance, reputation and intangibles, legal and
regulatory, etc.)
• The business model provides a rigorous framework for identifying risks.
• By stress testing key linkages and assumptions, the board and
management can determine what might go wrong and the possible
consequences.
• Management can then develop very detailed risk management analyses
around each key issue.
RISK MANAGEMENT
• Risk management is the process by which a company evaluates and
reduces its risk exposure.
• COSO framework on risk management:
1. Internal Environment: Philosophy toward risk.
2. Objective Setting: Evaluate strategy in this context.
3. Event Identification: Examine risks of each opportunity.
4. Risk Assessment: Determine likelihood/severity of each.
5. Risk Response: Identify actions to deal with each.
6. Control Activities: Policies to support each response.
7. Communication: Create information system to track.
8. Monitoring: Review data from system and take action.
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (1990)
CONSIDERATIONS IN RISK MANAGEMENT
The board has four important responsibilities in this area:
[Link] board determines the risk tolerance of the company, in consultation with
management, shareholders, stakeholders.
[Link] board evaluates the company’s strategy and business model in the
context of the firm’s risk tolerance.
[Link] board ensures the company is committed to operating at an appropriate
risk level. It relies on risk KPIs to help make this assessment.
[Link] board should satisfy itself that management has developed necessary
internal controls and that procedures remain effective.
HOW ARE BOARDS DOING?
• Survey data suggests that boards could stand to improve.
– Most companies do not integrate risk management and strategy.
– It is often treated as an isolated function (internal audit, risk management
function, etc.).
– 50% have no enterprise risk management in place.
– Only 20% describe their risk management as “mature” or “robust.”
– 45% have no structure for identifying and reporting risk to the board.
– 38% do no formal risk assessment when developing strategy.
• Risk management might be delegated to the audit or risk committee, but it
is likely best handled by the full board.
AICPA (2014)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
OECD. Principles of Corporate Governance. 2004.
Financial Reporting Council. The U.K. Corporate Governance Code. 2012.
NACD. Public Company Governance Survey. 2014.
J. Carr Bettis, John Bizjak, Jeffrey Coles, and Swaminathan Kalpathy. Performance-Vesting Provisions in Executive Compensation.
Social Science Research Network. 2013.
Deloitte. In the Dark: What Boards and Executives Don’t Know about the Health of Their Businesses. 2004.
Deloitte. In the Dark II: What Boards and Executives Still Don’t Know about the Health of Their Businesses. 2007.
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations. 1990.
American Institute of Certified Public Accountings (AICPA). Report on the Current State of Enterprise Risk Oversight: Opportunities to
Strengthen Integration with Strategy. 5th Edition. 2014.
