Table of Contents COMPETITION AND EMPLOYEES We operate in highly competitive markets and face intense competition from both established entities and new entrants into those markets. Potential consolidation in our industry can also create stronger competition. Our failure to compete effectively may adversely affect us. We may not be able to recruit, train, and retain qualified personnel, including retaining a sufficient number of qualified and experienced on-call claims adjusters, to respond to catastrophic events that may, singularly or in combination, significantly increase our clients' needs for adjusters. Our ability to retain clients and maintain and increase case referrals is also dependent in part on our ability to continue to provide high-quality, competitively priced services and effective sales efforts. The global claims management services market is highly competitive and comprised of a large number of companies that vary in size and that offer a varied scope of services. The demand from insurance companies and self-insured entities for services provided by independent claims service firms like us is largely dependent on industry-wide claims volumes, which are affected by, among other things, the insurance underwriting cycle, weather-related events, general economic activity, overall employment levels, and workplace injury rates. We are also impacted by decisions insurance companies and self-insured entities make with respect to the level of claims outsourced to independent claim service firms as opposed to those handled by their own in-house claims adjusters. We also face competition from potential new entrants into the global claims management services market, in addition to traditional competitors. Potential consolidation in our industry can also create stronger competition. Our inability to react to such competition or improved technology could negatively impact our volume of case referrals and results of operations. Our catastrophe related work and revenues can fluctuate dramatically based on the frequency and severity of natural and man-made disasters. When such events happen, our clients usually require a sudden and substantial increase in the need for catastrophic claims services, which can strain our capacity. Our internal resources are sometimes not sufficient to meet these sudden and substantial increases in demand. When these situations occur, we must retain outside adjusters (temporary employees and contractors) to increase our capacity. There can be no assurance that we will be able to retain such outside adjusters with the requisite qualifications, at the times needed or on terms that we believe are economically reasonable. Insurance companies and other loss adjusting firms also aggressively compete for the same pool of independent adjusters, who often command high prices for their services at such times of peak demand. Such competition could reduce availability, increase our costs and reduce our revenues. Our failure to timely, efficiently, and competently provide these services to our cl ients could result in reduced revenues, loss of customer goodwill and a materially negative impact on our results of operations. Our Crawford TPA Solutions business competes with the general healthcare industry in recruiting qualified nurses, other case management professionals and other talent. In some markets, the scarcity of nurses and other medical support personnel has become a significant operating issue to healthcare providers. Such competition could reduce availability, increase our costs and reduce our revenues. This shortage may require us to increase wages and benefits to recruit and retain qualified nurses and other healthcare professionals. Our failure to recruit and retain qualified management, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, or to control labor costs could result in reduced revenues, loss of customer goodwill and a materially negative impact on our results of operations. We compete for nurses and other case management professionals in the healthcare industry, which may increase our labor costs and reduce profitability. 11