5. Decision-makers' expectations and the challenges of risk management

It seems that three key words could characterize today's socio-economic context: complexity, variability and speed. We don't need to elaborate on the notion of complexity: globalization, multiculturalism, incessant innovation and cutting-edge technologies are just some of its attributes. Variability, for example when the price of a barrel of oil rises from $30 to $140, is not a new phenomenon if we consider that the economy has always cycled. What is new, however, is the extent and speed of this variability, due in large part to our market management methods. A few months, or even a few weeks, are enough to multiply raw material prices by a factor of 2 or 3, and they can collapse just as quickly. We must then add to this socio-economic context a new ecological dimension: the increasing scarcity of our natural resources, some of which are vital to our economic activity (those used to produce...