What are the physical causes of …

Causes of Business Risk

Natural causes: Natural causes are beyond the control of human beings. Natural disasters can lead to huge losses in business. Let us take example of various small hotels which were wiped out during the massive floods in Uttarakhand. Nobody could do anything when the flood hit the hilly state.

Human causes: Strikes, dishonesty, carelessness, etc. are examples of human causes of business risk. Labour unrest have often resulted in shutdown of many factories. The factory of Maruti at Gurgaon is an example of crippling operations due to labour unrest.

Economic causes: Inflation, unemployment, economic slowdown, etc. are examples of economic causes of business risk. The recent economic slowdown has resulted in reduced demand for housing. According to leading newspapers, there is huge inventory in the housing sector which would take at least ten years to be sold. Luxury products suffer severe decline in demand during an economic slowdown.

Other causes: Some political events can change the business scenario. A major policy change by the government can change the business environment. A very good example of effect of policy change on a business is the upsurge in mobile telephony market in India when the then telecommunications minister favoured CDMA by making some changes in policy. It is always seen that a stable government at the centre improves the business climate, while an unstable government is detrimental to the business climate.