Risks and opportunities
Risks and opportunities are at the heart of our decision-making processes and the day-to-day running of the BBC. The Executive Board monitors whether we are taking too much risk, or failing to capitalise on our opportunities.
Risk management mechanisms are concentrated within divisions and business units with supporting processes in place to manage project risks and cross cutting issues, such as editorial standards and safety. We also pay particular attention to our longer-term strategic threats and opportunities so that we remain competitive in an evolving market.
The Executive Board co-ordinates these processes and monitors the outputs. This ensures we maintain constant vigilance to emerging risks and opportunities to inform management decision making. The effectiveness of our approach is kept under review by the Executive Audit Committee.
The tables below provide a summary of the most significant risks and related opportunities impacting on our audiences, strategy and operations.
Content and audiences
Content and audiences: challenges are mitigated by our editorial strategy and our commitment to Delivering Quality First.
Our mission is to inform, educate and entertain audiences, and we manage any threats to this objective. We must continue to focus
on distinctiveness and to capitalise on opportunities to improve how we serve all audiences, whilst playing our part in the profound
changes across the media sector:
- Adverse impact on the quality and distinctiveness of our content when implementing Delivering Quality First could disappoint audience expectations
- Failure to embrace emerging technologies could threaten our connection with audiences
- Failure to uphold our editorial values and standards in all our content could lead to loss of audience trust, damaging our brand
- Detailed modelling of projected impacts
- Increasing concentration of creative energy and resources on the five editorial priorities
- Targeted investment in new technologies
- Progressing partnerships, including the successful launch of YouView and The Space
- Coordinated TV platform strategy for Freeview, Freesat and YouView
- Strong editorial controls, effective compliance processes and serious consideration of complaints
- Ongoing training of production teams, with focus on skills and expertise, coupled with succession planning
- Reinvestment funding available from 2013, focused on flagship services, our five editorial priorities and areas of transformation
- Ensure continued delivery of ambitious, standout and landmark content post 2012
- Exploit unique characteristics of all digital platforms to serve different audience needs
- Continue new partnerships with industry
- Continue to monitor long-term trends in audience preferences and industry developments
- Implement the revised complaints framework
- Continue to monitor the Leveson Inquiry as it proceeds and as reports are published
Financial and operational
Financial and operational: challenges are mitigated by our business strategy, policies and procedures.
The prolonged UK and global economic situation impacts on us and all our stakeholders and could lead to a decline in income and
spending power. In addition, the resilience of our operations, and of the operations of our suppliers and partners,
is essential to delivering the services that licence fee payers expect:
- Continued economic uncertainty could lead to reduced financial flexibility and decreased licence fee income, and inflationary pressures could also significantly erode our spending power
- Technical failure, infrastructure interdependencies, industrial action or the actions of third parties including suppliers, could lead to interruption of broadcast services
- Contingency planning and business modelling for a range of economic scenarios
- Renegotiation of high-risk contracts to remove links to inflation
- Continued focus on reducing exposure to pension asset and liabilities risk
- Business continuity arrangements in place to manage the impacts of disruption, in particular for new buildings
- Exit plans and contingency plans for key suppliers
- Tight management of the implementation of phased savings targets
- Planning for new funding responsibilities (for example, the BBC World Service)
- Regular programme of rehearsals planned for the BBC estate to ensure continued alignment of continuity arrangements with changes to the property portfolio and new technologies
Corporate responsibility
Corporate responsibility: Challenges are mitigated by the strength of our business processes.
Whilst driving our strategy to deliver quality, originality and value to our audiences, and to anticipate modern audience needs,
we must maintain appropriate practices:
- Inadequate controls could endanger the health and safety of individuals, the natural environment and our reputation
- Failure to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, or to keep pace with changes, may result in penalties
- Robust health and safety training in the UK and overseas, including for staff operating in inhospitable locations
- Provision of dedicated advisors for specific high-risk deployments
- Working with other broadcasters to promote a sustainable, green production industry
- Training plans regularly refreshed to ensure compliance with relevant newly introduced legislation
- Collaborating on industry-wide measures to improve safety of journalists
- Continued focus on targets to reduce environmental impacts from energy and transport emissions, water use and waste
- Continuing to monitor introduction of new legislation
bbc.co.uk navigation
BBC links
BBC © 2013 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.