ECONOMIC CRISIS AND SECURITY CONCERNS OF WHOLESALERS IN EASTERN EUROPEAN AND CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRIES

We examine how the 2008-2009 global crisis affected wholesalers' spending on security and their losses due to theft, burglary, vandalism or arson in Eastern European and Central Asian countries. The results indicate that a similar percentage of wholesalers paid for security pre- and post-crisis. The results also indicate that the wholesalers that paid for security spent less on security post-crisis. A higher percentage of the partnerships and the larger wholesalers spent money on security post-crisis when compared to the pre-crisis period. On the other hand, fewer shareholding firms with shares traded privately and fewer firms with one or more female owners spent money on security post-crisis when compared to pre-crisis. Especially smaller firms, firms that are not part of a larger firm and sole proprietorships spent less on security post-crisis. Also, fewer wholesalers experienced losses due to crime post-crisis when compared to the pre-crisis period. Finally, our results indicate that, after the crisis, crime was seen as less of an obstacle by these firms.