The experience of writing a risk identification and management report for a company to set its branch in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has made me learn many new aspects about effective researching and report preparation. It has become a valuable aid in satisfying my desire to traverse through the stages of enhancing my knowledge in not only risk management but also finding relevant information in a timely and appropriate manner. Also, I have realized once again that correlating and presenting content is as important as gathering it. It has made me experience the efforts and knowledge that need to be put in the work to get an acceptable outcome. To conclude on my experience with regards to this assignment, it is essential to focus on various stages of the work.
Coming to the initial phase has comprised of deciding on the focus of my paper and searching for relevant sources. Initially, I have done preliminary research to know about the social and business conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I have used this information in deciding on the scope of my paper, after which I have started to do the actual search for relevant sources. The main focus of my paper is to analyze the political, social, and economic conditions and conflicts in Congo so as to evaluate potential safety concerns in order to set up a business in the region by the company called Chemicon Plc. Accordingly, I have started my actual search on the Internet, as it contains a vast number of sources related to varied topics. Consequently, I have retrieved some sources and found them to be relevant to my topic. Apart from this, I have found two books in text versions with appropriate information for my topic.
In the next phase, I have had to sort out more relevant ones from the sources I have retrieved. As per the requirements of my paper, I have felt Wikipedia as a useful source in providing general information pertaining to the history and, political and economic conditions of the DRC. The other web source, belonging to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, has information for tourists about the safety and security in the DRC. Coming to the two books, namely Burundi: Ethnic Conflict and Genocide, and The Congo Wars: Conflict, Myth, and Reality, discuss about the ambiguous situations in Congo with respect to various ethnic and political conflicts in the region. Thus, I have decided to use these resources for evaluating the favorability of a foreign business entity to work in this area.
From the information I have gathered, I have found that there is an unstable situation which is a cumulative result of political conflicts, economic crisis and,, poor living standards that is evident with the proportion of the population below the poverty line. I have also found that conditions have been improving in recent times, not up to a satisfactory point though. Attaining an idea on this scenario has given me a basis to analyze the scope for foreign companies to enter Congo’s domestic market and/or start business activities in the region. After thorough research and analysis of the obtained data, I have realized that the conflicts’ driven environment in the DRC is suffering from severe safety and security crises that may pose a potential threat to the business activities of international companies. Nevertheless, I have noticed that things can be improved through collaborations between companies and the government to improve the living standards of people and the capability of military forces. The reason behind it is my analysis that the instability is mainly due to a lack of formoney at people to fulfill their basic needs. Also, military forces need to be strengthened to main stability during the transition phase of this possible development.
Most importantly, the assignment has helped me in sharpening my abilities with respect to analyzing gathered information, using them as per the need, and somehow understanding the responsibilities of a business consultant. For instance, I have been through vast data with timelines that explain much about conflicts in Congo. However, my purpose of the paper is not about explaining conflicts in detail but to implicate them for the possibilities of business activities. Accordingly, I have not relied much on inappropriate data. Instead, I have tried to extract the essence of those data and, in turn, make qualitative assessment of the current scenario. Apart from this, I have learned to some extent the responsibilities of a consultant while evaluating the scope of business activities and potential threats for it in a particular region.
Though I have completed the paper by using my skills in researching and analyzing while learning certain new issues as stated above, I have also found certain aspects in me that need to be improved. For instance, searching for sources on the Internet was not an easy task for me in the past owing to the difficulty in selecting proper keywords and choosing reasonably good sources among information galore. Consequently, I have had to struggle initially to find relevant sources quickly. Also, I used to have difficulty in comparative analysis techniques when it comes to analyzing the cause-and-effect scenarios. After this assignment, I am confident now that it is not an impossible task if proper attention is given to the relativity of matter. Moreover, I want to improve my writing skills concerning vocabulary and sentence formations in the next six-month period.
All in all, working on this risk assessment paper has given me valuable experience on how to find, correlate, sort out and produce information as per the requirements of the paper. Also, it has given me a chance to analyze my potential strengths and weaknesses in this regard.