In the run-up to the outbreak of the crisis, Ireland had a current-account deficit of around 5 per cent of GDP. That was small relative to those of the other crisis countries. In Cyprus, Greece, Portugal and Spain, the deficits ranged between 12 and 15 per cent of GDP.
That is, whether someone is designing a  2  BIS Review 2/2007  new branch office, shipping tapes to a backup site for storage, developing the layout for a newspaper ad, or training new employees, they will consciously think about risk as one of the elements of that business activity.