The integration of standardized management systems: managing business risk

Purpose Protecting business value is regarded to be the cornerstone of any organization. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and explore the potential contributions of the integration of standardized management systems (MSs) into an integrated MS. This will support a better coordinated management of different kinds of risks that exist in organizational processes. Design/methodology/approach The findings are based on literature as well as empirical case studies conducted by the authors. It focuses on the potential results of integration of MSs. Findings It is found that the integration of MSs leads to a more coherent, extensive, consistent, and harmonized process of identification of hazards. Also, it is found that from integration also results in the minimization of associated risks that affect key aspects of business, considering the organizational context vs requirements of each relevant stakeholder, as defined in related management systems standards. Research limitations/implications This research, investigate the risk management (RM) and the integration of MSs from existing research papers about empirical studies for the period 2000-2014, including case studies in which the authors are involved. The number of enterprises can be larger. Originality/value Although there is some research regarding RM in organizations related to isolated implementations of MSs, this paper stands in a different perspective, since it addresses the issues emerging from the integration of standardized MSs in a broader perspective.