Our Market

The outline below provides a profile of the Swiss  market over all and interesting facts and information about issues important to both Swiss and foreign executives working in Zurich.

You'll also find helpful links to other areas of interest.

Geographic Profile
Switzerland borders Germany in the north, Austria and the Principality of Liechtenstein in the east, Italy in the south and France in the west. Switzerland is a small, mountainous country, extending over a part of the central Alps and the northern pre-Alps.

With its mountains and hills, rivers and lakes, Switzerland boasts a diverse landscape despite measuring only 220 kilometres (137 miles) from north to south and 348  kilometres (217 miles) from west to east. At Lake Maggiore in the south, palm trees thrive at 192 metres (630 ft) above sea level, while less than 100 kilometres (65 miles) away, the 48 mountain peaks rising 4000 metres (13.120ft) above sea level are snow-capped all year long. Switzerland has a surface of 41’285 km2 and a population of 7.5 million; across a wide range of nationalities. Berne is the capital of Switzerland and Zurich is the largest city.

Political Structure
Politics of Switzerland takes place in the framework of a multi-party federal parliamentary democratic republic, whereby the Federal Council of Switzerland (7 members) is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government and the federal administration. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland. The judiciary is an independent body separate of the executive and the legislature branches. For any change in the constitution, a referendum is mandatory; for any change in a law or laws, a referendum can be requested by any citizen of Switzerland. Through referendums, citizens may challenge any law voted by federal parliament and through initiatives introduce amendments to the federal constitution, making Switzerland the closest state in the world to a direct democracy.

Economy of Switzerland
Switzerland’s economy is based on a highly qualified labour force performing highly skilled work. The main areas include micro technology, hi-tech, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, as well as banking and insurance know-how. The service sector now employs the greatest number of people. Most of the people working in Switzerland are employed by small and medium-sized enterprises, which play an extremely important role in the Swiss economy.

The Swiss are concerned that economic activity should have as little impact as possible on the environment. Switzerland's energy and transport policies aim to be environmentally friendly.

Switzerland has achieved one of the highest per capital incomes in the world with low unemployment rates and a low budget deficit.

In Switzerland the most important sectors are:

• Financial Services: Banks and financial institutions play an important role in the Swiss economy. The Swiss Franc is among the world’s most stable currencies. The Swiss capital market is one of the most important in the world. The Swiss are world-wide leaders in “private banking” for individuals. Switzerland is the leading insurance exporter in Europe. Reinsurance is also an important service, with much of the business done abroad.

• Pharmaceuticals: Switzerland is among the world’s leading producers of chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The chemical industry focuses on dye-stuffs, perfume essences and food flavorings. The center of the industry is Basel. The largest pharmaceutical companies are Roche and Novartis.

• Watches: Switzerland is one of the world’s largest watch manufacturers. In terms of value, it is responsible for about half of all world production. Along with its luxury output, Switzerland is also known for the world’s best selling plastic watch: the Swatch. The watch industry exports 95% of its products.

• Chocolate: Switzerland’s chocolates have earned an international reputation for high quality. From the 19^th century until the First World War and throughout the Second World War the Swiss chocolate industry was very export orientated. After the Second World War Switzerland began to outsource production due to commercial restrictions; nowadays more than 50% of its annual production is exported. However, a substantial part of the Swiss chocolate is consumed by the Swiss themselves.

• Mechanical and electrical engineering: The mechanical and electrical engineering industries are one of the major branches of the Swiss economy.

• Tourism: Tourism is an important source of income. It is the third most important source of export revenue, after the metal and machine industry and the chemical industry.

• Trading: Switzerland is home to a number of large international trading companies, whose business consists of buying commodities and selling them on to third parties. The trading companies often make an important contribution to the local economy, providing employment and paying taxes.

• Science: Switzerland is recognized as an international research center. Both the Swiss state and the private sector are strongly involved in promoting science and technology. Amongst others, Google recently moved its Research center to Zurich. The scientific success has a long history. Many Swiss and Swiss-based scientists have won Nobel prizes.

Languages:
About 63,7 % of the people in Switzerland speak German; 20,4 % French, 6.5 % Italian and 0.5 % Rhaeto-Romanic. The majority of the Swiss population speak at least two languages fluently.