SMEs are most worried about their margins being squeezed by competition, according to an annual survey by Zurich Insurance Group.

About 34% of respondents worldwide rank the fallout from strong competition and price “dumping” as their top risk from 14 potential hazards, followed by weak consumer demand (32%) and legal and fiscal problems (14%).

Rounding out the top five are reputation damage (13.4%) and theft (12.8%).

Cyber crime places 12th, cited by about 8% of respondents.

“It is telling that SMEs globally are increasingly focused on business issues such as competition, margin pressure, weak demand, reputation and financial issues that they have the power to influence, while paying less attention to external factors,” new Zurich General Insurance CEO Kristof Terryn said.

“We believe this is a very rational response to what is an increasingly interconnected and globalised business environment.

“Companies should focus on building resilience, managing the risks they can control and outsourcing the rest through insurance or other solution providers.”

About 28% of SMEs in the Asia-Pacific region rank competitive pressure on margins as the leading risk, followed by lack of consumer demand and overstocking (19.3%) and natural catastrophes and unpredictable weather (15.5%).

Theft (14.8%) and legal and fiscal problems (14%) complete the region’s top five.

“Natural catastrophes and unpredictable weather ranks third as a key risk among SMEs in Asia-Pacific, higher than in many of the other markets,” Zurich said.

The survey polled senior executives in 3000 companies across Austria, Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the UAE and the US.