Managing Risk in Business through an Investigation of Orientalism

Every business in the world intrinsically deals with risk. Though global commerce thrives to combat risky markets dangerous management decisions and consumer behavior it can be easy to misinterpret major threats to a business when human bias eventually intervenes. Orientalism is a prevalent form of bias today which is exacerbated by current political air in relation to the Middle East and numerous conflicts throughout the world. With that said investigating this influential and dangerous construct as it relates to business is more important today than ever before. The projection of false identity constructs in regards to the Middle East as an attempt by the West to protect global business integrity can be highly self-destructive: any real risk present that is a legitimate threat to the firm’s operations is actually compounded as a result of mistranslated danger based in Orientalist fallacies. Thus the real hazard to a firm can become an unconscious and internal peril the root of which is nothing more but our biased selves.