Mexico. The direct impact of insecurity in this country is reflected in the productive capacity of companies; because of it, many companies are affected from the absenteeism of their workers, to their supply chains, through the extortion of criminal groups. All this added up has direct effects, not only on the perception of insecurity, but also on the economic activity of society in general.
According to the monthly report of the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP), which functions as the official source that publishes monthly business theft figures, among the multiple crimes that are reported month after month, the one that has a more direct association with companies, is business theft.
Insecurity at its highest level in 22 years
In recent years, business theft has remained an upward trend in Mexico, however, from December 2018 and January 2019 it reached its highest level since 1997, the year from which the SESNSP began monitoring this type of crime.
At the end of 2018 the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) published the National Survey of Victimization of Companies (ENVE) and among the results it is highlighted that of a universe of more than 4.5 million companies, at least a third or 33.7% were victims of at least one crime during 2017.
International standards in terms of security indicate in patrimonial security, that if you want to lower the level of risk by 70% of a good to be preserved, you must invest up to 20% of the value of the good in preventive, active and contingent measures, in the face of a present risk factor; this allows to run a residual risk, evaluating that there is still a 30% vulnerability in the exposed critical resource.
"Security in the country is one of the most complex issues and there is no total solution, at least so far – one of the main problems is that the investments made in this area within companies continue to be very low, of only 3.3% average for Mexico, when the levels in the safest countries reach averages of 20%." said Rubén Almonte, Managing Director of Sky Angel. "Any company that carries out economic activity for profit and with exposed critical resource, has to think that the culture of self-protection at different levels is not a cost, but is an investment that gives you peace of mind," says the executive.
Total security does not exist, however, by adopting preventive measures that incorporate elements that constitute physical and technological barriers, which allow the reduction of an event occurring in this exposed critical resource, it avoids running a Gross risk.
More impact than the crime itself
Among the companies consulted by the ENVE, it is reported that the consequences of the crime have impacted them more than the crime itself; that is, material damage is more easily replenished, however, the effects on investment plans and the operation of businesses damage their income, productivity and ability to attract talent in the long term.
According to the aforementioned report, among the most relevant consequences experienced by companies are the cancellation of plans for the growth of the establishment (13.1%); the high in marketing or conducting business with other companies (6.3%); the reduction of production or marketing schedules of goods or services (18.2%) and the cancellation of distribution or sale routes of their products (4.5%).
The costs of insecurity
Analyzing the economic damages in companies due to crime, the report adds that 1 million 540 thousand 694 businesses were victims of a crime in 2017 and their accumulated costs presented as losses and protection measures against crime, represented a total of 163 thousand 439 million pesos figures in pesos of 2017 and that were updated at 2019 prices).
"It is important to address the issue of security in the country and reflect on all the ways in which a company is affected by insecurity, either directly or reflected in its employees or assets, since this image of an insecure Mexico abroad, affects the level of investment and the ability to attract capital to the country. If investments go down, economic growth will surely slow down and the creation of new job and development opportunities will undoubtedly be affected as well," Almonte concluded.
