Corporate Governance
Advanced
Mission-Critical Risk
A compliance or operational risk central to a company's principal business whose failure can threaten the enterprise rather than merely cause an isolated loss.
Why It Matters
Mission-critical risk helps identify areas where board-level reporting and oversight systems may have especially high value because concentrated operational failure can endanger the entire firm.
Selected Literature
A short list of directly relevant archive entries.
1991
Advanced
The Economic Structure of Corporate Law
Frank H. Easterbrook and Daniel R. Fischel
Harvard University Press
2017
Advanced
Agency Problems and Legal Strategies
John Armour, Henry Hansmann, and Reinier Kraakman
The Anatomy of Corporate Law
2017
Intermediate
Related Cases
2019
Corporate Law
Marchand v. Barnhill
212 A.3d 805 (Del. 2019)
Board-level compliance systems and oversight of a risk central to the company's single-line business.
1988
Corporate Law
Blasius Industries, Inc. v. Atlas Corp.
564 A.2d 651 (Del. Ch. 1988)
Board action taken for the primary purpose of interfering with shareholder voting power.
1996
Corporate Law
In re Caremark International Inc. Derivative Litigation
698 A.2d 959 (Del. Ch. 1996)
Director oversight duties, compliance systems, and board liability for failure to monitor legal risk.