Multiplicities of corporate security: Identifying emerging types, trends and issues

Abstract

This article explores types and topics in corporate security work by developing a new typology along five dimensions - public/private, in/outsource, oversight, work type, and certification/training and personnel selection. Using this typology reveals emerging trends (such as decommodification or insourcing), challenges (such as accountability and oversight) and benefits (a greater range of legal and other powers) related to corporate security. To illustrate this typology's value, as well as the limits of existing literature, the article considers findings from research on a nascent public, in-house, government form of corporate security: municipal government corporate security offices in Canada. We conclude by discussing decommodification or insourcing as well as expert certification and training and what these trends mean for scholarly debate about corporate security. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.