Top-Down Risk Assessment begins with executive and board perspectives on strategic threats and opportunities, considering external factors like market disruption, regulatory changes, and macroeconomic conditions. This approach ensures alignment between risk management and business strategy, with high-level risks decomposed into specific operational risks for detailed management. It complements bottom-up assessments that aggregate departmental risks. A technology company's top-down assessment might identify platform obsolescence as a strategic risk, which then translates into specific product development and talent acquisition risks for business units. This method is particularly valuable for identifying emerging and interconnected risks that may not be visible at operational levels.