20090921 Switzerland is a top location for foreign investors - Ernst & Young - Switzerland

Switzerland is a top location for foreign investors

Second place in the global location ranking / Swiss tax system viewed as less attractive / Challenges for Switzerland are innovation, entrepreneurship, R&D/ Managers believe Switzerland will be best at mastering the economic crisis / Strong banking system the most critical success factor in tackling the crisis

ZURICH, September 21, 2009 – Switzerland has an excellent reputation among international companies: 20 percent of companies consider Switzerland – besides Germany – to be one of the world’s most attractive locations. Switzerland’s political stability and legal security, the quality of life and the social climate are particularly appreciated. The attractiveness of the Swiss tax system, however, only makes it to eleventh place on the list of the most important factors (2007: 4th). These are the results of a study by the professional services company Ernst & Young on the attractiveness of Switzerland as a business location. Managers in 700 international companies around the world were surveyed. Of these companies, 204 are active in Switzerland.

Switzerland is a top location for administration, logistics and distribution
Compared with other countries, Switzerland scores highly in many key areas: 27 percent of the companies surveyed indicated that Switzerland is the most attractive location for administration and accounting. Switzerland is also ranked first when it comes to logistics (24 percent) and distribution and marketing (22 percent).

China, the US and Germany are the world’s most innovative countries
When it comes to innovative capacity, Switzerland is seen as only average compared with other countries. In the global rankings of the most innovative countries, Switzerland is in fifth place, behind China, the US, Germany and India – only 23 percent of respondents put Switzerland down as one of five particularly innovative locations. China was selected by 54 percent, the US by 44 percent, Germany by 35 percent and India by 31 percent. It is interesting that the emerging countries were named by 30 percent of respondents, against only 19 percent who named the established industrialized countries. “The results of the survey show how narrow the competitive gap is between the major high-tech locations and the high degree of regard the emerging countries already enjoy among companies,” says Markus Schweizer, Head of Accounts & Business Development in the GSA region, which comprises Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, at Ernst & Young.

The proportions of the challenge facing the established industrialized countries, including Switzerland, can be seen by the answers to the question of where the respondents think the “Googles” or “Microsofts” of the future will emerge – the sort of companies which manage to become world market leaders in the software/high tech sector in a very short space of time. As far as this factor is concerned, Switzerland is definitely in the second division in the eyes of the respondents, who see such giants of the future arising in the US, India and China. Only 5 percent of those surveyed thought that Switzerland had the potential needed in this area.

Switzerland is best placed to master the crisis
Despite the economic crisis, the respondents listed Switzerland as a top location, with 93 percent confident that Switzerland can successfully master the crisis and 44 percent believing that Switzerland was best placed among all European countries to master the crisis.
 
Two out of three managers named the strong banking system as the most important factor in mastering the crisis. But there’s a clear split in opinions when it comes to innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and research and development. Companies who are active in Switzerland rank the country considerably higher than those who aren’t. “This is clearly an area where Switzerland needs to catch up. We need to draw attention from abroad to Switzerland as a research and development location and offer tax incentives for innovative companies,” says Dominik Bürgy, Head of Tax and Legal Advisory at Ernst & Young Switzerland.

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