Doing Business in Switzerland

EENI- School of International Business

Subject (Course) - Foreign Trade and Business in Switzerland. Bern

1. Introduction to the Swiss Confederation (Central Europe)
2. The Swiss Economy
3. Doing Business in Bern and Zurich
4. The Swiss Foreign Trade
5. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Switzerland
6. Access to the Swiss Market
7. Business Plan for Switzerland

Objectives of the subject “Doing Business in Switzerland”:

1. To analyse the Swiss Economy and Foreign Trade
2. To evaluate business opportunities in the Swiss market
3. To analyse the trade relations of Switzerland with the student's country
4. To know the free trade agreements of Switzerland
5. To develop a business plan for the Swiss Market

Subject Description: Doing Business in Switzerland

The Swiss Confederation

1. Capital: Bern
2. Official Language: German, French, Italian and Romansh
3. Area: 41,285 square kilometres
4. Population: 8 millions of people
5. Type of Government: Parliamentary Federal Republic
6. Borders of Switzerland: Germany, Austria, France, Italy and Liechtenstein
7. Religion in Switzerland: Catholicism (Christianity).
8. Switzerland belongs to the Western Christian Civilisation (European Economic Area)
9. The theologian Hans Kung was born in Switzerland

The Swiss Economy.

1. The Swiss Confederation is the fourth richest and most developed country in the world
2. Switzerland is the second economy most competitive in the world
3. GDP (nominal): 650,431 millions of dollars
   1. Agriculture: 4%
   2. Industry: 24%
   3. Services: 72%
4. GDP per capita: 83,718 dollars
5. Currency: Swiss Franc
6. Financial centres in Zurich, Geneva and Basel. The largest Swiss bank is UBS and the second is Credit Suisse
7. Switzerland is often classified as a tax haven.
8. In Switzerland, there is banking secrecy guaranteed by the Constitution.
9. Switzerland has large multinationals: UBS, Credit Suisse, Swatch, Nestlé, Novartis, ABB, Adecco, Rolex
10. Top economic activities: financial sector, chemical industry, musical instruments, food products, tourism, engineering
11. Switzerland has virtually no natural resources
12. Switzerland is home to several international organisations: the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Universal Postal Union, the Red Cross, FIFA, the United Nations Distance Education Commission
13. In Switzerland there are prominent business men and women from all over the world:
    1. The businesswoman of Lebanese origin (Swatch Group) Nayla Hayek is a Swiss citizen
    2. The South African businesswoman Rapelanga Rabana sold her company to Swiss telecommunications company Telfree.
    3. The Brazilian banker Edmund Safra created the Foreign Trade Development Bank in Geneva
    4. The managing director of the Swiss Rothschild group is Dr Jogishwar Singh (Sikh religion)

Swiss Foreign Trade

1. Main Swiss Exports: chemical products, electronics, precision instruments, watches.
2. The aluminium produced in Montenegro is exported by Switzerland
3. Top Swiss exports destinations: Germany, the United States, Italy, France.
4. Main suppliers of Switzerland: Germany, Italy, France
5. Switzerland as a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) has agreements with Mexico, Central America, Serbia, Georgia, Colombia, Albania, Macedonia, Peru, Chile, Morocco, Canada, Singapore, the Philippines, Egypt, the Southern African Customs Union, Bosnia and Herzegovina, India, Tunisia, South Korea, Jordan, Montenegro, Ukraine, Turkey, Lebanon, the Gulf Cooperation Council etc.
6. The Lonrho Swiss company is developing the Port of Luba (Equatorial Guinea)

International economic relations of Switzerland

1. European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
2. Japan has an economic association agreement with Switzerland
3. Free Trade Agreement with China (negotiation)
4. Regional Cooperation Council
5. Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
6. United Nations
7. International Chamber of Commerce
8. World Bank
9. World Trade Organisation
10. Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
11. International Monetary Fund (IMF)
12. Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
13. Group of States of the Council of Europe Convention against Corruption (GRECO)

Switzerland is an observer country of the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI)

❮ Samples - Business in Switzerland ❯