New and emerging risks management in small and medium-sized Spanish enterprises

Abstract

BackgroundThere are not many studies in the literature related to New and Emerging Risks (NERs) management in Small and Medium Sized enterprises (SMEs). This study aims to address this gap by focusing on the case of Spain. The objectives are to explore whether Spanish SMEs have procedures related to the management of NERs and whether there are differences in the management of NERs depending on the size of the enterprise. MethodsAn exploratory study was carried out by extracting the sample from the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER-2, 2014). Data were collected though computer assisted telephone interviewing. The whole sample was finally composed by 3.162 enterprises. In order to carry out the statistical analysis, the SPSS 23.0 package has been used. ResultsStatistically significant differences have been found in some aspects related to the management of NERs depending on the size of the enterprise. However, no differences have been found in the deficiencies that the companies claim to find. ConclusionThe study of NERs is a relatively new field of research that requires a greater consensus on the definition of the concept itself as well as on the measures to be implemented for its management. Easy-to-implement measures for SMEs would need to be designed.