Standing up for the business
Sep 06 2011
Most small business owners would take the law into their own hands to protect their company, according to a study.
A report commissioned by CCTV vendor Storage Options in the wake of the London riots finds that 65 per cent of its 1,000 SME respondents would stand up for their business in the face of trouble.
It was heartening to see the images of shop owners fighting back against looters to protect their livelihood, taking necessary action where outnumbered police officers were powerless to come to their aid.
But the ones who refused to lay down were surely in a minority, with some 11,000 members of staff reportedly affected by the riots across the country and 7,500 hours of trading lost.
It’s probably easier to fancy yourself as a vigilante without the sight of hordes of masked youths carrying makeshift weapons charging towards your shop floor.
The British Retail Consortium has thrown down the gauntlet to the government to provide reassurances that critical issues thrown up by escalating lawlessness are being addressed.
The organisation calls for practical assistance for retailers in securing and clearing up after attacks and ‘strong punishments’ for the perpetrators of violence.
Despite the bravado implied by this particular poll result, we can’t all rely on being effective have-a-go-heroes. Consequently, the Institute of Consulting has said that contingency planning is essential for businesses likely to be caught in the front line of disturbances.
According to the Chartered Management Institute’s 2011 business continuity management research, 84 per cent of organisations that had contingency plans in place and needed to activate them in the last year found that business disruption was reduced and they recovered faster.
CMI senior director Huw Hilditch-Roberts adds, ‘If a business fails to plan, it plans to fail; we all know this, and history has proved that if plans are in place, business damage is minimised and recovery is faster in the event of a crisis.’
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