Generic risk

Generic risk refers to risks that affect all businesses. They may affect businesses

in different ways, but all will be impacted.

Examples of generic risks include:

• the impact of the global recession on demand for all products and services.
• the risk that governments may revoke planning permission or change regulations in response to political pressures.
• the risk that major investment projects experience cost or time over-runs.

Specific risk

Specific risk refers to risks that affect only the specific business in question. The range of specific risks will be dependent upon the breadth of definition of the specific business sector.

Example of specific risk

A specific risk that faces the air transport industry is that consumers may move away from air travel in response to environmental concerns.