Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are essential for the growth of any economy, the advantages they offer consist of the contribution to the production of goods and services, the creation of jobs with relatively low capital, the reduction of income disparities, the formation of qualified and semi-skilled human resources and the reduction of poverty. Like any other organization, SMEs face many risks, but tend to reactively perceive risk management activities, greatly reducing the capacity of available resources to mitigate risks. By implementing a structured approach to risk management within the operations of SMEs, benefits such as reducing global risks, reducing costs, and organizational alignment with the mission and objectives of SMEs can be achieved. This research aims to identify if there is a significant correlation between the perception of the possible benefits obtained from the implementation of risk management and the integration of risk management into operating activities within the Romanian SMEs. The data were collected from 164 owners, managers, risk managers and project managers of SMEs in Romania by applying a questionnaire and analyzing it using Linear Regression at a significance level of 0.01. The results indicate that appreciating the importance of increasing profitability and revenues as well as identifying and controlling a greater number of risks at entity level, as potential benefits of implementing risk management, have a significant and negative contribution to the extent to which risk management is integrated into operating activities of Romanian SMEs. In contrast, there is a significant and positive association between the extent to which risk management practices are applied in the operating activities of Romanian SMEs and the importance of aligning risk management with the company’s objectives as well as increasing stakeholders’ satisfaction and involvement in risk management.
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