Apart from the usual risks associated with business such as a supplier going bankrupt or a product failure, catastrophic natural or man-made disasters are increasingly on boards' radars. And in the past year the world hasn't been short of these -- the Japan tsunami and earthquake, the Thai floods, and the Arab Spring uprising whose repercussions continue to be felt, are just a few that have shook the world recently.

The human impact of these events aside, the knock-on effect on businesses are multifaceted. Consequences such as an increase in the cost of oil, the effect on the supply chain and even the shrinking of the market could destroy a business.

Issues such as escalating fuel costs and broken supply chains are not exclusive to these catastrophes, of course. Ainsworth points out that the financial crisis has bankrupted many suppliers.

Other new risks are emerging all the time. Perhaps the most dangerous new risk, says Ainsworth, is reputational risks caused by supplier behaviour. The damage to BP's reputation from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was arguably as great as the cost of the clean-up for the company, he says.

But these new risks cannot be eradicated because they are part of the new world order -- globalisation and more disparate operations. What has changed is a heightened awareness of the different and emerging risks and their potentially devastating consequences. Boards are simply paying more heed to mitigation -- the other option is to stand still, which is not really an alternative.