The 8 risks that will impact the business environment in the Dominican Republic

LLYC, a global corporate affairs and marketing firm, presented the report “Dominican Context: Challenges for the business environment,” revealing the country’s main reputational risks for the current year. This comprehensive analysis evaluated over 3 million digital mentions, identifying the most critical challenges facing the Dominican Republic in public and private spheres.

The report highlights that instability and forced migration from Haiti, the effects of El Niño and Hurricanes, the impact on tourism from multi-regional conflicts, and misinformation are among the main risks, underscoring the need for informed and strategic decision-making to address these issues. This analysis was based on the work of specialized Public Affairs, Risk, and Deep Learning teams, which employed advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning tools.

“Dominican Context: challenges for the business environment” offers essential strategic insight at a crucial time for the country: presidential elections combined with a convulsive and volatile international environment. The report provides a vital decision-making tool for corporate entities and the subsequent political leaders, highlighting the importance of proactively and effectively addressing these reputational risks.

The construction of the Dominican Republic Reputational Risk Prioritization Map was carried out by LLYC’s team of international experts, employing data intelligence supported by advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning tools and the team’s analysis of country indicators and reports, which resulted in the identification and prioritization of the challenges for the country:

Risk 1. Impact on tourism due to multi-region hostilities: in the face of fear due to multiple war conflicts, we analyzed what actions can be implemented as a country to protect one of the main economic activities.

Risk 2. El Niño phenomenon and hurricanes: as an island nation, extreme weather events have a cross-cutting impact on the country’s economic activities, so implementing resilient infrastructure and establishing early warning systems to protect the population and minimize financial losses are vital actions to address them.

Risk 3. Instability and forced migration from Haiti: The international community’s and companies’ perceptions of the impact of the prolonged crisis in the neighboring country pose a significant long-term threat to the Dominican Republic.

Risk 4. Inflation and its economic impact: the economic challenge would require resilience measures for the country to adapt to a volatile global environment. Likewise, public-private collaboration that guarantees investment conditions will be vital this year.

Risk 5. Elections, new government, or ratification? This topic concentrates the greatest volume of conversation analyzed, as well as the diversity of communities and scope. Uncertainty, polarization, and confrontations between the different political forces are evident.

Risk 6. Cybersecurity and the role of AI: This is an accelerating territory with very limited communities. The media mainly exposes capabilities, applications, and associated risks.

Risk 7. Citizen security: Given this risk, it is essential to design strategies to mitigate the problem and strengthen a more favorable environment for its citizens and, therefore, for businesses. According to the Reputational Risk Prioritization Map, this risk has a high impact and moderate probability. Building solutions that foster social peace will allow for a better development of the country.

Risk 8. Disinformation: In the Dominican context, disinformation is presented as a crucial risk for public opinion, as some political organizations and influential figures may contribute to the spread of unverified information.

According to Iban Campo, General Director of LLYC Santo Domingo, “Managing the context and not only reacting to it will allow organizations to design mitigation strategies to face the detected impact, or take an anti-fragility perspective that allows companies to achieve their business objectives and protect their reputation.”

According to Renata Sanchez, Director of Corporate Affairs at LLYC Santo Domingo, “In an environment of permacrisis and constant uncertainty, in which risks are much more complex, having the information supported by insights from Big Data allows designing more powerful strategies in the volatile environment that characterizes the global and Dominican environment.”

This Reputational Risk Prioritization Map aims to provide the country with an essential tool for making informed and strategic decisions, both for corporate entities and for upcoming leaders.

About LLYC

LLYC (BME:LLYC) is a global Corporate Affairs and Marketing firm that partners with clients in creativity, influence, and innovation to grow and protect the value of their businesses. It turns every day into an opportunity to nurture its clients’ brands.

LLYC, founded in 1995, is present in Argentina, Brazil (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), Brussels, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Spain (Madrid and Barcelona), the United States (Miami, New York, San Diego and Washington, DC), Mexico, Panama, Peru, Portugal and the Dominican Republic.

In 2022, LLYC’s operating revenues exceeded €72 million. According to the PRWeek and PRovoke rankings, LLYC is among the 40 largest companies in its sector. It was named Best Consultancy in Europe 2022 in the PRWeek Global Awards and Latin America Consultancy of the Year 2023 by PRovoke.