Enterprise risk management in the Middle East oil industry : An empirical investigation across GCC countries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to appraise the current status of enterprise risk management (ERM) in the Gulf Co‐operation Council (GCC) oil and gas entities to develop a practical, region‐specific, and systematic action plan for the GCC oil and gas industry that can transform the existing ERM models to a mature and robust framework. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews current relevant literature on Committee of Sponsoring Organization of the Treadway Commission ERM Framework; and enterprise wide risk framework within the precincts of the GCC oil and gas industry to identify the knowledge gaps which form the basis for the research questions. The paper then empirically investigates the GCC oil industry through six case studies, encompassing the six countries in the GCC (GCC comprising of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates). The case study has focused by exploring the ERM system per se through comparative case studies to answer the research questions. The research questions and the work have been done from the perspective of the naturalistic (inductive) research paradigm. Findings – This paper establishes the understanding of the current existing ERM models while identifying the determinants of ERM adoption and the most significant challenges for its implementation. Furthermore, the paper also develops the best practice approach for successful ERM implementation in the GCC oil and gas entities. Research limitations/implications – The use of a case study has been made precluding the use of other direct methods such as survey questionnaires. The analytical methods used are deductive and discursive in nature, limited to the nature of the methodology of case study used. Rigorous statistical methods could not be applied owing to the limitations of the case study method. The paper explores and compares the industry structure of oil and gas sector in GCC countries, for this purpose, only a few selected entities in the upstream and downstream oil and gas sector are discussed. Practical implications – Although ERM is conceptually straightforward, its implementation in practice is not. Furthermore, ERM is accepted as a contemporary hot topic and also a board room priority in most industries. The present paper steers the way forward for an improved understanding of the ERM system in a strategic industry dealing with a strategic commodity. Originality/value – There is a need for a proactive ERM program in the oil and gas industry and also a need for additional research especially in terms of its implementation. Nevertheless, an apparent caveat in the ERM system is that there is no standard approach to implementing and entities grapple with how they should go about putting together an ERM program. The findings provide useful and timely analysis of the GCC oil and gas industry from the perspective of implementation of an ERM framework which is contemporaneous business priority item in most entities in the GCC hydrocarbon sector.