Impact of Crime on Small Businesses Report 2008 - Gauteng Online

THE IMPACT OF CRIME ON SMALL BUSINESSESevidenced in the previous sections, as well as reluctance among suppliers to deliverto such areas, which are likely to be viewed as more unsafe than more formal, betterserviced areas. At sub-sector level, low level and informal retail vendors weresubstantially above average in their perceptions <strong>of</strong> a negative impact as a result <strong>of</strong>suppliers’ concerns about crime. As noted above, this group was found to be considerablymore concerned about the negative impacts <strong>of</strong> crime in general. It alsooperates largely from townships and informal settlements, where concerns aboutcrime were found to be higher.Chart 34: Suppliers' fear <strong>of</strong> crime - impact on business706050403020100RetailvendorsRetail fixedpremisesPersonalServicesPr<strong>of</strong>essionalservicesManufacturingConstructionTotal% <strong>of</strong> respondentsNegative impact on businessNo impact7.7 Changes to operating timesA number <strong>of</strong> international studies have identified changes to business hours <strong>of</strong> operationas an indirect cost associated with precautions to prevent crime. The 2003 WorldBank study in Jamaica found that 37 percent <strong>of</strong> firms had opted to close before dark.Of these, many indicated that they would operate longer hours if their place <strong>of</strong> operationwere perceived to be safer. Firms reported that, on average, they would be willingto remain open an additional 3.6 hours per day if they were located in a safer area.29In Australia, 17 percent <strong>of</strong> owners/managers reported that staff had requested timetablechanges following a robbery. 30While 80 percent <strong>of</strong> respondents in our sample reported that they had not made anychanges to their operating hours, 13 percent <strong>of</strong> the sample had made such changesspecifically to try to reduce their risk <strong>of</strong> crime. Most <strong>of</strong> those who had madechanges were located in townships and informal settlements. While just seven percent<strong>of</strong> businesses who had not been exposed to crime during the past year hadchanged their operating hours, the figure among businesses that had experiencedone or more incidents <strong>of</strong> crime was 20 percent.61