"Engaging the private sector for armed violence reduction and prevention (AVRP) and development" Regional Review Conference on the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development Geneva, Switzerland | 8-9 July 2014

1. Regional Review Conference on the Geneva Declaration
on Armed Violence and Development
8-9 July 2014 | Geneva, Switzerland
Giulia Mugellini
Monitoring business security to support
development: the use of crime surveys
Senior Researcher
University of St. Gallen (Switzerland)
Killias Research & Consulting (Switzerland)

2. Business security and social development
 Experience and perception of
crimes inhibit investment and
social development.
 Need to monitor, prevent and
control security issues among
businesses
 Need to collect data on crimes
against businesses to assist policy
makers in supporting the
development, competitiveness and
integrity of the private sector.

3. European Union (2008-2009): EU law enforcement and criminal justice agencies need
instruments that provide not only comparable data but also an alternate perspective
(possibly focusing more on the financial & economic crimes and corruption) to better inform
policy and planning (Action Plan 2006/2010).
Italy (2008-2009): need to better evaluate the extent of organized crime and its impact on the
business sector to support the economic development of the country.
Switzerland (2009): need to measure crime committed by employees. Need to identify the
areas most at risk of corruption for Swiss firms while doing business abroad.
UK (2010): need to collect high quality factual data on the frequency and cost of crime to form
a base for discussion with parliamentarians, the government, political stakeholders, other
national bodies.
Western Balkans (2011): need to understand the mechanism of corruption, the economic
sectors most at risk and the most vulnerable business procedures.
Latin America (2011): need to measure the extent of corruption and extortion against the
private sector.
The need for surveys on crime and corruption
against businesses

4.  UNODC, International Commercial Crime
Survey (ICCS), 1994.
 UNODC, International Crime against Business
Survey (ICBS), 2000.
 UNODC, Crime and Corruption Business Survey,
2005/2006, 2007.
 Gallup and Transcrime, Pilot EU Business
Victimization Survey (EU BCS), 2012.
 UNODC, Business Corruption and Crime in the
Western Balkans, 2012-2013.
 European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD), Business Environment
and Enterprise Performance Survey (BBEPS),
1999, 2000, 2005, 2008 .
 World Bank, Enterprise Survey, 2002-2014.
 9 European countries conducting at
least one BCS (by National Statistical
Institutes, Ministry of the Interior,
Ministry of Justice): Bulgaria, Cyprus,
England and Wales, Estonia, Finland,
Italy, the Netherlands, Scotland,
Switzerland.
 5 countries in North and South America:
Canada, Chile, Mexico, USA, Uruguay.
 1 in Australia.
 2 countries in Asia: China and Nepal.
International and European BCS National BCS
Other surveys carried out by accounting/audit and insurance multi-nationals, such as
PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst and Young, KPMG, Control Risk.
Surveys on crime against businesses:
key experiences

5. Surveys on crime against businesses:
key experiences
Fig. 1 – Overall prevalence
victimization rate across
European businesses. Different
years.
Source: author’s elaboration of
business crime surveys’ results
(Mugellini 2014).
In the majority of
countries, the annual
business crime
victimization rates range
between 32% and 46%.

6. Surveys on crime against businesses:
lessons learned
FREQUENT:
 At European level: on average 36% of businesses have been victims of at least one crime
during 12 months (EU BCS 2013), against 15% of individuals (EU ICS 2005).
COMPLEX AND ORGANIZED:
 In England and Wales: 13% of crime incidents committed by organized criminals. Vehicle
theft (47%), burglaries (30%) and E-crimes (25%) (CVS 2012).
 In Italy: 26% of the businesses victims of intimidation and threats and the 77.5% of the
businesses victims of extortion reported that these crimes were committed by local
organized crime groups (IBCS 2008).
COSTLY:
 In Switzerland: among the firms victims of corruption abroad, on average 5% of their
annual revenue in the foreign country is used for informal payments (HTW Chur 2012).
 In Italy: the total cost as a consequence of organized crimes on businesses accounted for
the 2.6% of the Italian GDP (Detotto &Vannini 2010).
 In the Netherlands: in 2010, the total amount of crime losses for was around EUR 570
million (excluding violent offences). Annually, each interviewed business lost EUR 19,000
(WODC 2010).

7. Surveys on crime against businesses:
lessons learned
STRONG IMPACT ON THE BUSINESSES INVESTMENTS’ CLIMATE:
 In the EU and the CIS: crime and corruption are among the most impeding obstacles for
doing business (WEF 2010).
 In Eastern Europe: 18% of businesses stated that their investments’ decisions are strongly
affected by corruption (ICBS 2000).
 In Italy: 14% of micro businesses stated that their investments’ decisions are strongly
affected by the risk of being victims of crime (IBCS 2008).
 In Switzerland: between 2011 and 2012, a quarter of Swiss firms lost a contract (public or
private) because of bribery. 10% have decided not to do business in a specific country
because of the risk of corruption. 4% of them have decided to withdraw from a specific
market for the same reason (HTW Chur 2012).
 In the Western Balkans: in 2012, 5.9% of companies decided not to make a major
investments due to the fear of having to pay bribes to obtain requisite services or permits
(UNODC 2013).
 In Mexico: in 2011, 59.3% of companies considered insecurity and crime as the main
problems affecting their operations, followed by low purchasing power (40%) and lack of
government support programs (38.1%) (ENVE 2012).

8. Implications for policy making and
programming
 Identifying the most vulnerable sectors where to focus intervention.
 Measuring the costs of violence and corruption on businesses.
 Assessing the willingness to invest in a specific country.
 Monitoring the effects of policies and legislations on the private sector. E.g. the
OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials or the United Nations
Convention against Corruption, the FCPA , the UK Bribery Act. But also Neighbourhood
policing and local accountability.
 Orienting the development of crime prevention strategies. E.g. in the UK, the
ActionFraud and the CIFAS (UK’s Fraud Prevention Service).
 Improving the identification of social programmes to combat crime and corruption
 Reducing opportunities and incentives to commit violence and corruption through
environmental and situational changes.
 Contributing to the revitalisation of public areas and spaces.
 Increasing the mutual understanding between public and private sector
organizations.

9. Conducting surveys on crime against businesses:
main challenges
 Collect data on crime against business to complement the
assessment of countries’ security and development.
 Integrate perception measurements and experience-based
indicators.
 Need to focus on local-level and business-level data to
orient and monitor interventions.
 Comparability and monitoring over time and across
countries.

10. Thank you for your attention

11. Regional Review Conference on the Geneva Declaration
on Armed Violence and Development
8-9 July 2014 | Geneva, Switzerland
Giulia Mugellini
Monitoring business security to support
development: the use of crime surveys
Senior Researcher
University of St. Gallen (Switzerland)
Killias Research & Consulting (Switzerland)