ABSTRACT
This introductory theoretical chapter provides an overview of the central themes in scholarly research on the risks posed by organized crime to private businesses, and how the latter can transform their cooperation with the public sector to counter the problem. This is done through an enterprise paradigm of organized crime which is used to develop an illicit-licit business continuum of the private sector to explain the wide range of linkages between organized crime and legitimate businesses. This chapter concludes with a discussion of private sector security governance and the global demand for multistakeholder solutions to the challenges of transnational organized crime beyond traditional law enforcement approaches.
