Enterprise risk management e criação de valor empresarial

: evidência nas empresas cotadas portuguesas

Abstract

In an increasingly uncertain and complex business environment, Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) has become a fundamental tool for identifying, assessing, and controlling the multiple risks faced by an organization. It differs from traditional approaches by proposing a holistic view of risk, enabling not only the prevention of losses, but also the exploitation of opportunities to create value. In this perspective, this research primarily aims to assess whether level of implementation of an ERM system has a significant impact on the performance of Portuguese listed companies, considering two performance indicators: the EBITDA Margin (as a measure of operational efficiency) and ROE (Return on Equity - measures a company's financial performance). Accordingly, non-financial companies from the PSI-15 index were analyzed, across the Energy, Industry, Retail, Consumer, Construction, Telecommunications, and Services sectors—covering the period from 2018 to 2023, which totaled 84 observations. Drawing on COSO (2017) principles, an ERM Score was constructed based on the information disclosed in each company’s annual reports, allowing for an assessment of the maturity of their risk practices. To assess the relationship between the ERM Score and performance metrics was used the OLS (Ordinary Least Squares) regression. In addition, the ERM Score included company Size, Sales Growth and Financial Leverage as control variables, as well as dummy variables for the sectors of activity and years of the analysis period. The results of this study show a positive and significant effect of ERM on ROE, corroborating the idea that consolidated risk management practices can increase the predictability of results and improve efficiency in the allocation of resources, resulting in a higher return for shareholders. On the other hand, ERM does not have a statistically significant effect on EBITDA Margin, suggesting that although risk management can contribute to the stability of cash flows and the mitigation of volatility, its impact is not immediately or significantly reflected in this metric. In addition, the Energy and Telecommunications sectors tend to have higher margins because of structural characteristics that give them greater financial stability and market power.

Date of Award	10 Jul 2025
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Ricardo Cunha (Supervisor)