A part of a project deals with the hardware work. As a project manager, you have decided to hire a company to deal with all hardware work on the project. Which type of risk response is this?

Exploit is a risk response strategy for positive risks (opportunities) to ensure the opportunity is realized, not for handling a negative risk by shifting it.

Mitigation involves taking action to reduce the probability or impact of a risk, not shifting the responsibility entirely.

Transference is a risk response strategy where the responsibility for a risk and its impact is shifted to a third party, often through outsourcing or insurance. By hiring a company to deal with hardware work, the project manager transfers the risk associated with that work to the external company.

Avoidance involves eliminating the threat by removing the cause, such as changing the project plan to bypass the risky activity, which is not what hiring a company does.