Analyzing Organized Crime From A Business Perspective: The Case Of Mexican Meth Mafia

The mission of the original Knights Templar was to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land during medieval times. In Mexico, three hundred years later, they had turned into a sort of protection racket, loaning money out of popes and kings alike. Following its homologues to the letter, the newest of Mexican drug cartels is not only known for its involvement on international crystal-meth production and trafficking, but also as an efficient governance structure that derives enormous sums of money through extortion and other “side” businesses. Recent media reports allege that in at least 73 out of 113 municipalities of the southern state of Michoacán, one of the poorest in Mexico and bastion of the KT, agribusinesses as well as small rural farmers are continuously subject to extortion by the organization. How could this escalate to the point of needing to send troops to regain control of a country’s seaport? To provide an answer to this question, we elaborate on a methodology developed by Dean (2010) known as “Crime Business Analysis Matrix”. Using strategic management tools and grounded on the Knowledge-based View of the Firm, We will describe how the criminal syndicate KT originated and consolidated a successful for-profit criminal organization based on meth trafficking, and then detect where its major strengths and weaknesses lie, in order to recommend an alternative line of policing.