The Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is located in the Caribbean. The Dominican Republic borders the Caribbean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, and Haiti. The population recorded July 2016 in the World Fact book is 10,606,865. The Dominican Republic is ranked 88th on highest population, while the United States is ranked 4th. The official language of the Dominican Republic is Spanish and 95% of the population is of the Catholic religion. The capital of the Dominican Republic is Santo Domingo. The Dominican Republic sells items such as cocoa, tobacco, sugarcane, coffee, cotton, rice, beans, potatoes, corn, bananas; cattle, pigs, dairy products, beef, eggs. The industries that the Dominican Republic has are tourism, sugar processing, gold mining, textiles, cement,
tobacco, electrical components, medical devices. (World Factbook)
National Considerations
Political, Economic, & Legal Systems The Dominican Republic shows more collectivism than individualism. The Dominican Republic has an individualism score of 30 on the Geert Hofstede website. This means that the Dominican Republic has a more collectivist society. The Dominican Republic is very similar to the United States governmental system. The government type is a presidential republic (Human Development Reports). They have elections every four years, has a president cabinet, executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch. The president is Danilo Medina Sanchez. The Dominican Republic has a mixed economy that consists of a variety of private freedom combined with some government regulations (Dominican Republic: Introduction). The legal system in the Dominican Republic is the civil law system. Their civil law system is based on the French civil code and was last modified in 2004 (The World Factbook). Our Global Business Today book defines contract law as the body of law that governs contract enforcement (McGraw-Hill Connect). Because the Dominican Republic is under civil law, our global business today tells, " contracts tend to be much shorter and less specific because many of the issues are already covered in a civil code ". Property rights for the Dominican Republic are below the world average with a score of 30 in 2015. The world average is recorded in 2015 as 42.2. This means that a business in the Dominican Republic does not have strong legal protection and can be rendered from profits. The heritage website compares the freedom of corruption of the Dominican Republic to the world's average. The Dominican Republic has a freedom of corruption number of 29 in 2015, compared to the world's average of 41.9. The Dominican Republic has more corruption than most of the world. This is a problem for ethical countries trying to come in the country. The heritage website states that the intellectual property rights are low. This is not welcoming fact for a company that realizes on intellectual property. Product safety and liability of the Dominican Republic is under their civil law. Our Global Business today tells that " Civil laws call for payment and monetary damages". If a business wants to business in the Dominican Republic they will have to adjust to civil code and a corrupted environment in their managerial implications.
Economic Development
The size of the economy of the Dominican Republic is recorded in 2015 as 66.91, compared to the United States size of 77.98 (Human Development Reports ). The gross domestic product of the Dominican Republic is $74.46 billion in 2015. The annual growth rate of GDP in the Dominican Republic is 5.9% in 2016 and 7% in 2015. (The World Factbook) Gross national income is defined in our Global Business Today book as the yardstick for measuring economic activity in of a country, this measures the total annual income of a nation's residents (McGraw-Hill Connect). The gross national income (GNI) per capita of the Dominican Republic in 2011 was recorded at $11,882.70. (Human Development Reports)
The purchase power parity is defined in our Global Business Today book as an adjustment in gross domestic product per capita to reflect differences in the cost of living (McGraw-Hill Connect). The purchase power parity (PPP) for the Dominican Republic was recorded in 2015 as $149.893 billion according to the World Bank website. Human Development Index (HDI) is defined in our Global Business Today book as an attempt by the UN to assess the impact of a number of factors on the quality of human life in a country (McGraw-Hill Connect). The HDI for the Dominican Republic was last recorded at 0.715 and ranked 101 in the country ranking system (Human Development Reports).
Gross National Product of the Dominican Republic is recorded as $65.69 billion in 2015. The United States has a GNP of 17.994 trillion.( Human Development Reports) Figure 1 of the appendix shows the comparison of the United States and the Dominican Republic in some of the economic development calculations. There are many managerial implications that can be determined because of this information. The Dominican Republic is an economically growing country and its human development is slowly increasing. The growing country means that there are opportunities to set up a business in the country before the Dominican Republic is fully developed. The PPP is also lower than most countries, so it will be cheaper labor for a business.
Culture
Some of the culture, values, norms, and society of the Dominican Republic can be found on the culture-crossing website. Women and men usually introduce themselves with a handshake or a kiss on the cheek. It is standard to have a personal space of one to two feet with a fair amount of touching during a conversation. Dominicans' value personal relationship, meaning that they are very relaxed with their time schedules and their business negotiations are relaxed as well, not confrontational. When giving a business card, a person should hand the card with the Spanish translated side face up and the receipt should treat the card with respect. Titles are very important in the Dominican Republic. This is some of the information needed to know to make better business decisions. Our Global Business Today book defines social stratification as "the basic social organization of a society" (McGraw-Hill Connect). The social stratification of the Dominican Republic is stated in the every culture website. The upper class of the Dominican Republic is mainly made up of people of European decent and light skinned. The middle class is mostly made up of mixed African American and European descent. The lower class is made up of mostly African Americans. The higher and lower middle class have divided up depending on the color of their skin and is continue to grow. This means that the Dominican Republic has a strong social stratification and low mobility. The Dominican Republic is made up of 95% Catholic residents and 5% of other religions (The World Factbook). Dominicans also have a strong ethic of family solidarity. Knowing this information can help businesses in managerial implications by showing that their company put emphasis on families. The most famous study of how culture relates to values in the workplace was undertaken by Geert Hofstede (McGraw-Hill Connect).This is how the Dominican Republic is ranked in this study. The power distance of the Dominican Republic is recorded at 65 while the United States has a score of 40. This means that the Dominican Republic is more of a hierarchal society and accepts the power stance that everyone has. The individualism-collectivism of the Dominican Republic is recorded at 30, while the United States has a score of a 91. The uncertainty avoidance of the Dominican Republic is recorded at 45 while the United States has a score of 46. These countries are both similar in taking the same amount of risks. The masculine vs.
feminine score of the Dominican Republic is recorded at 65 while the United States has a score of 40. The Dominican Republic and the United States are similar in how the countries look at men and women in society. The long term vs. short term of the Dominican Republic is recorded at 13 while the United States has a score of 26. This means that both countries have a normative culture that is suspicious to change. (Geert Hofstede.) Looking at the Geert Hofstede score of both the Dominican Republic and the United States, the countries have some similarities and differences in their managerial implications. The Dominican Republic is more of a collective culture that believes in power distance and is more adapt to change. This is something to think about when doing business with the Dominican Republic compared to the United States that is more individualist and people wanting to move up on the hierarchal chain of command. The scores of the United States and the Dominican Republic can be shown in figure 2 of the appendix.
Ethics & Social
Responsibility Some employment practices are stated on the heritage website. There are only seven procedures to launch a business in the Dominican Republic. The employees work rigid hours and the labor freedom for the Dominican Republic is 56.5%, below the world's average. Human Rights in the Dominican Republic is very little from what it told on the amnesty website. The government of the Dominican Republic has tried to increased human rights, but the legislation to protect women and girls failed to pass. The Dominican Republic has met with former President Obama to help with the problem. They have appointed the first Human Rights Ombudsman in 2013. Environmental pollution & policy is stated in Law 64-00 was passed on August 2000.
This law regulates soil, water and air contamination, dangerous products, elements and substances, domestic and municipal waste, human settlings and sonic contamination. Companies must obtain environmental licenses and permits to do business in the Dominican Republic. (Group, 2. M.) Corruption is a serious problem in the Dominican Republic. The heritage website tells how drug cartels pay police officers monthly payments. There has been a lot of corruption involved in the Dominican Republic. That being in mind, the assumed ethics philosophy that would fit this would be naïve immoralist. Our Global Business Today defines naïve immoralist as one who asserts that if a manager of a multinational sees that firms from other nations are not following ethical norms in a host nation, that manager should not either (McGraw-Hill Connect). The managerial implications that are involved being a naïve immoralist can cause legal situations. The Dominican Republic is slowly improving on laws related to human rights, environment, and corruption. As a business coming in, it is better to be held to higher standards because of the growing concern in the Dominican
Republic.