1. ^aNational Centre for Information Systems Research, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200 Australia
2. ^bAdelaide Graduate School of Business, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide SA 5000 Australia

Correspondence: Nigel J. Martin, National Centre for Information Systems Research, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200 Australia. E-mail: nigel.martin@defence.gov.au

Abstract

This paper discusses the importance of being able to efficiently profile enterprise risks in the dynamic and highly competitive international markets in which large computer companies operate. While the continuous management and reporting of enterprise risks is largely driven by individual country laws and corporate regulation, the analysis and profiling of the risks remains a substantial analytical and interpretive task in its own right. This paper outlines a series of experimental procedures and results for multi-year enterprise risk profiling based on the deployment of the Leximancer software tool. We show that the software tool enables the identification of the risk themes, concepts, and ideas from the screening and contextual analysis of business reports and corporate data. The study focuses on the key enterprise risks disclosed to the US Securities and Exchange Commission by the Dell, Hewlett Packard, and IBM companies over the period 1995–2005.