The Coronavirus is actively impacting the business operations of thousands of companies worldwide. In this blog post we dive into some of Polecat's Risk Intelligence data from the past 7 days to highlight the geographies and businesses implicated in the growing global discourse around the Covid-19 outbreak.

Polecat tracks global discourse around thousands of topics, analyzing their impacts on businesses and markets. We identified the first mentions of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan in December 2019, and have been actively tracking the issue for numerous organisations to highlight the implications it is having on different countries of operation as well as those enterprises being affected.

Our geopolitical intelligence for the last week sees China and Iran topping the league in terms of countries associated with global concern, although China’s efforts to contain the virus sees it more positively regarded than Iran and those countries suffering more recent outbreaks, including South Korea, Japan, Italy and Russia.

Polecat Geopolitical Intelligence

These results will evolve over time to reflect the countries and regions of concern, as well as mapping the market-sensitive tension between fear and optimism about the effectiveness of response, containment and ultimately recovery.

Tracking the Impact on Supply Chain

In terms of industry impact, Polecat data shows the Leisure and Tourism industry, specifically airline and cruise companies, as most immediately impacted by travel restrictions.

Polecat Reputation Risk Drivers and Topics

Pressure on supply chains was also evident in global discourse from the end of January - with tech firms like Apple and Huawei, automanufacturers like Fiat-Chrysler and Toyota, and others announcing or being associated with supply chain and sourcing challenges.

Conversation about coronavirus and the twin topics of supply chain and recession have tracked together closely since then and increased in momentum ahead of the S&P 500 entering correction territory at the end of February.

Polecat Risk Intelligence

Polecat can provide real time intelligence and analytics on Coronavirus as well as hourly briefs on what is happening in your country and your sector as the situation unfolds. To appraise the evolving discourse about Coronavirus more closely and understand how it is currently impacting, or how it might potentially impact your business, competitors and wider industry, please contact us for more information.