The novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, has already changed society. As governments worldwide struggle to adapt to the new reality, they are introducing measures aimed at preventing the further spread of the virus and increasing the resilience of their public healthcare systems. But with more than 2.5 billion workers and consumers on virtual lock-down, COVID-19 is also having an enormous impact on the global economy, disrupting production and trade worldwide. Companies face unprecedented levels of PESTLE risk as a result of travel restrictions and serious resource and workforce shortages that are disrupting supply chains and business as usual.
With COVID-19 set to dominate the world’s attention in the weeks and months to come, we’re taking a closer look at how PESTLE risks are surfacing in media coverage. The COVID-19 risk tracker, powered by Nexis NewsdeskTM , features interactive charts that provide insights into how coronavirus pandemic coverage exposes political, economic, societal, technological, legal and environmental risks in near real time. Explore the analysis here.
But first, let's have a look at some of the highlights:
Which PESTLE risk factors are being talked about the most?
In looking at which risk categories receive the most media coverage, societal, technological and economic issues dominate the conversations, with legal issues not far behind. Wages and salaries, public health, manufacturing facilities, supply chain management, and layoffs represent the most talked about buzz words at the moment.
Societal and economic risks take center stage
As the chart above shows, the issue of wages and salaries is clearly a top-of-mind issue. In addition to coverage of topics like hazard pay for essential workers, the coverage related to wages and salaries reflects the unprecedented number of people who are currently laid off due to the closure of nearly all public spaces, including restaurants and bars, non-essential retailers, and a host of travel and entertainment venues.
On a related note, layoffs are a trending topic in terms of COVID-19 and economic risk, however the impact on manufacturing facilities is also dominating in the media. Within conversations on manufacturing, we see both risk and opportunity. While some of the coverage focuses on the difficulties manufacturers face due to lack of available raw materials, parts, and workers, media attention is also fixed on efforts by some manufacturers to repurpose their production lines to address critical shortages within healthcare, such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators.
Companies mentioned reflect both risk and opportunity
When all of the PESTLE factors are tracked in relation to company mentions, it’s easy to see that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic leaves no industry untouched—airlines and automakers, banking and finance, even the digital communication platforms that are enabling social interaction despite physical distancing restrictions. Apple and Amazon dominate in mentions, perhaps because these organizations have both suffered supply chain challenges as a result of COVID-19 and have turned their attention to addressing critical needs of healthcare workers and consumers during this time.
Capturing entity-level insights
While Nexis Newsdesk captures the big picture of PESTLE risk related to COVID-19, our solutions for entity due diligence and ongoing risk monitoring empower organisations faced with historic levels of disruption. Nexis DiligenceTM and Nexis® Entity Insight are platforms that risk management professionals can use to conduct due diligence or monitor critical suppliers wherever they are. We looked at 50 entities using Nexis Entity Insight and saw similar trends—elevated economic, societal and technological risk—related to those specific companies. For example, the High and Medium risk factors dominating economic media coverage in the past 30 days focus on the impact the shut-downs are having on businesses—with layoffs, business interuption, insolvency and bankruptcy all serious concerns.
The coronavirus pandemic will eventually come to an end. In the meantime, we’ll keep monitoring emerging issues on our COVID-19 & PESTLE Risk tracker and helping companies manage the risks they face with agility that comes from improved awareness. The charts update approximately every 15 minutes, so return often to see how trends shift as the world moves forward with addressing and overcoming the COVID-19 challenge.
What’s next:
- Take an in-depth look at our interactive COVID-19 risk tracker
- Learn how Nexis DiligenceTM and Nexis® Entity Insight help organisations stay agile in the face of disruption.