Diminished reputation is a company’s greatest fear, closely followed by business interruption and third-party liability, according to a review of business attitudes by global insurer Aon.

More than half of companies say losing their reputation is the most pressing risk, and 30% are unprepared to respond to a major business interruption.

The 2007 Global Risk Management Survey found third-party liability concerns were on the rise as a US-style “compensation culture” gained a stronger global foothold.
 
Distribution or supply chain failure and the market environment were the other two risks most commonly cited.

Aon Global Risk Consulting Managing Director Ruth Joplin says reputation is an important competitive advantage.

“While intangible, reputation is one of the most important corporate assets and one of the hardest to protect; the lack of preparedness reported for this and other key risks is surprising and somewhat worrying.”

Other concerns rated by the survey’s 320 respondents were regulatory change, failure to attract or retain staff, financial risk, physical damage, mergers and acquisitions, and failure of disaster recovery plans.