Aon survey reveals top risks for sector
Aon has released the findings of its latest Global Risk Management Survey, revealing the top risk factors facing food and drink manufacturers.
Price volatility of raw materials remains top of the industry’s list of worries, but joining this at equal number one this year is the threat to brand and reputation.
Meanwhile, at third place is the risk presented by increasing regulatory oversight; a factor which came eighth in Aon’s last survey in 2013.
“The food and drink industry has been a global success story in recent years – it is the largest manufacturing sector in the EU with 14.6% of the total, but has faced a number of high profile challenges,” says Norman Andrew, executive director at Aon (pictured). “The results of Aon’s Global Risk Management Survey paint a very clear picture of the concerns amongst risk managers in the sector and reflect the changing environment in which they work.
“It’s clear that food and drink companies view their brands as a prized asset and without them they cannot trade profitably. However, this perception is interesting given that only 8% of respondents can confirm they have actually suffered some kind of material loss because of damage to their brand or reputation. The industry as a whole says the threat is now of equal importance to them as the price of ingredients.
“Nevertheless, we completely understand the industry’s concern. Information about ‘food scares’ can spread rapidly in terms of public awareness via news and social media and the GRMS survey also found that nearly two thirds of companies (61%) have a process or plan in place to manage a threat to their brand or reputation if an event happens.”
