Corporate Security and Critical Infrastructure Protection in The
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"The biggest challenge for the Corporate Security Management in Macedonia: How well do we Understand Corporate Security" Author: PhD Hadji-Janev Metodi, Assistant professor, LtC Co-Author: Dejan Atanasov, young researcher Key words: Corporate security management, modern threats, Macedonia, legislation, challenges, Abstract Process of globalization and its effects in the post Cold War aftermath have seriously challenged corporate security management around the globe as well in Macedonia. Emergence of new none state actors and its ability to influence corporate security urges us to reconsider different approaches in corporate security. Nevertheless, while rest of the World is considered with alternatives and learning from corporate security best practices Macedonian security sector struggle with proper understanding of corporate security management. Inappropriate transition has spoiled Macedonian legacy of corporate security. Operating under the legal vacuum security sector was dominated by former security personnel without business experience. Although concerned with profit and struggle for survival Macedonian corporate managers and owners have lack of understanding of the capacities that effective corporate security management could offer. Beside lack of understanding of what corporate security really means global trends that affect this sector also gravitate over Macedonian corporate security. Article examines the reasons behind ill legacy of Macedonian corporate security management and offers some fresh ideas of how future corporate security managers could sell their product and contribute to the overall corporate success on the global market. 1. Introduction Collapse of communism has marked the end of the balance of power. Technological development in its aftermath along with unchallenged liberal democracy has stimulated process of globalization. Free flow of capital, money, goods, and services has expanded global markets. These and similar processes that have led to integration of economies and societies as in the rest of the South east Europe (SEE) have eroded the role of public authority in many essential sectors in Macedonia such as energy, information communications, food and transport. In short government has more or less lost monopoly of power granted under the previous regime. As governments around the World lost their power in the age of globalization and technological advance non-state actors such as terrorist and criminal organizations have gained unimagined power. Many of the same resources and advantages of globalization that have spurred economies and cultural exchange throughout the world have become accessible as well to terrorist organizations. These organizations and individuals affiliated to them have global aspirations and objectives that are critical infrastructure oriented. Rapid changes in the society, in the region of SEE and around the globe have tremendously affected security of Macedonian corporation. Concerned with process of transition and struggle under the new market conditions, Macedonian political and business elite have initially saw security considerations as annoying “speed bumps”. Previously designed security system under which many companies in Macedonia build their safety and security vanished immediately after the independence. Legal and security vacuum of almost nine years after the independence have caused serious consequences to the Macedonian security management legacy. As a result consequences that evolved from this inappropriate approach toward private security have severely hampered the attitude toward corporate security services. The lack of understanding of what corporate security means is not just present in the security companies, but also among Macedonian corporations’ management. We argue that failure to appropriately endorsed corporate security management in Macedonia inhibits Macedonian corporations’ business capacities. Although private security companies could offer some of the essential tools that each serious corporation must have under its security sector it would be not serious for one to consider that corporate security management in Macedonia exists like in the countries with large legacy. Therefore we will first address the reasons from misunderstanding of corporate security management in Macedonia. Then the article will address general considerations and challenges to corporate security management in Macedonia. Finally the article will propose necessary adjustments and improvements that security managers need to consider if they are about to effectively manage corporate security and contribute toward overall corporate success. 2. Wave of globalization and its influx to corporate security in South- East Europe after the Cold War The end of the Cold War along with the shift in international relations and technological explosion has accelerated the process of globalization. Rapid expansion of technological development has led some to believe that “the twenty-first century will experience the equivalent of twenty thousand years of 'normal' human progress” (Mead, 2007). Hence to a large extent the process of globalization has changed the structure and pace of corporate. In his novel the World is flat, Friedman explains how in the age of globalization new actors immerged and have profited with the technological development (Friedman, 2005). Describing their horizontal collaborations – connectedness across geographical, political, and cultural boundaries he argues that they have flattened previously hierarchical corporations usually controlled by the states. As a result it could be argued that today economic relations between developed and developing countries are being altered by globalization. Capital no longer flows primarily from developed countries to developing countries. Capital today also flows from developing countries into developed countries. According to Turcotte in 2007, emerging economies produced just over half of world output and accounted for more than half of the increase in global gross domestic product (Turcotte, March 13, 2008). As to the rest of the World, the rapid expansion of globalization supported by technological development generated an unprecedented level of positive interconnectedness throughout the region of SEE too. These effects to a large extend were supported by the process of democratization and supported the process itself. On one hand the attempt to incorporate liberal democratic values in SEE’s post-communist environment required acceptance of free market, free trade and liberal values such as tolerance, compromise, pluralism etc. On the other hand Western liberal powers boosted this process. The support came in several ways. This was seen either by establishing democratic standards for expanding regional organizations (EU and NATO) or through the economic, political and other social support to many transitional governments operating in the region of SEE. Nevertheless, although generally well intended Western support to the region did not always bring success. The post-conflict management processes in the former Yugoslavia ran through democratization, misunderstood the patterns of the complex environment. The lack of experience in managing the “privatization”, like in most of the Former Yugoslav Republics and other SEE countries, caused corruption and expansion of organized crime in Macedonian society. Thus dramatic shift in the post Cold War aftermath and consequently in the security environment has challenged the development of the appropriate corporate security management in Macedonia. In general one could recognize two sets of challenges that affect Macedonian corporate security management. The first one is intrinsic to the development of Macedonian corporate legacy which resulted in its appropriate understanding. The second one is general influence in corporate security trends. We will address them accordingly and then provide some recommendations. 3. Corporate security in the Republic of Macedonia: how well do we understand it? Corporate security in Macedonia is not understood properly. This vacuum in Macedonian corporate security legacy is present not just among the private security companies’ elite but also among companies’ managers and owners. Common wisdom that dominates among private sector in Macedonia is that security considerations are just annoying speed bumps that exhaust company ability to maximize its profit. This thesis is supported by the facts that maximum that one could receive from security sector in Macedonia is personal security, physical and technical security, and to some extend, crime prevention. In addition although not directly linked to corporate security there is legislation that stimulates additional private roles in security sector such as private detective companies. However, this service is still not endorsed appropriately by Macedonian society as it is in other more experience capitalist societies. Thus it could be argued that one of the reasons for ill developed legacy of corporate security in Macedonia resides in Macedonian society’s culture to acquire security services from private stakeholders. Even though such view has its logic endorsement of private services among Macedonian society is well build giving the fact that most of the strategic sectors such as energy or telecommunications are predominantly run from private stakeholders. Additional alternative for inappropriate approach toward corporate security steams from bad image that private security companies have built after