Please read the question carefully. Country picked: Switzerland Topics to talk a

Question

Explanation / Answer

Switzerland: Technology and infrastructure: transportation, distribution channels, communication, commerce.

“ When you are dealing with Switzerland, it’s best to keep one thing in mind. Switzerland is not a real country. It’s a business, and it’s run like a business. It’s a business that is constantly in a defensive posture. It’s been that way for seven hundred years”

-Daniel Silva The English Assassin

“Because of the nuances of culture this diversity brings, Switzerland is considered to be a prime test market in Europe where new technology products and services are often introduced and used first prior to national launches elsewhere”

Before starting for business set up in Switzerland, please have a look over legal forms of business which can be carried in Switzerland and they are:

Introduction about Switzerland:

Switzerland is a mountainous Central European country, home to numerous lakes, villages and the high peaks of the Alps and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. The country is also known for its ski resorts and hiking trails. Banking and finance are key industries, and Swiss watches and chocolate are world renowned.

Population                 : 8.3 million

Currency : Swiss Franc (CHF)

Dialing Code : + 41

Official Languages     : German, French, Italian, Romansh

GDP : $ 517 Billion (2017 estimate)

Per Capita : $ 61,360 (2017 estimate)

Unemployment : 4.6%

Inflation (CPI) : 0.4%

FDI Inflow                   : $26,340.2 million

Public Debt                : 45.4% of GDP

Switzerland’s economic freedom score is 81.7, making its economy the 4th freest in the 2018 Index. Its overall score has increased by 0.2 point, with improvements in judicial effectiveness, government integrity, and monetary freedom outpacing slightly lower scores for the property rights and government spending indicators. Switzerland is ranked 1st among 44 countries in the Europe region, and its overall score is well above the regional and world averages.

Trade is extremely important to Switzerland’s economy; the combined value of exports and imports equals 114 percent of GDP. The average applied tariff rate is 0.0 percent. Nontariff barriers impede some trade. In general, government policies do not significantly deter foreign investment. The highly developed financial sector provides a wide range of financing instruments. Banks remain well capitalized and sound.

Switzerland Cantonal-level taxation is more burdensome than federal-level taxation. The top federal income tax rate is 11.5 percent. The federal corporate tax rate is 8.5 percent. The overall tax burden equals 27.9 percent of total domestic income. Over the past three years, government spending has amounted to 34.0 percent of total output (GDP), and budget deficits have averaged 0.1 percent of GDP. Public debt is equivalent to 45.4 percent of GDP.

Transportation

Airports: Switzerland has three international airports: Zurich-Kloten (ZRH), Geneva (GVA) and Basel-Mulhouse (BSL). The airports of Zurich and Geneva do have their own railway stations providing fast and frequent transfer into the very heart of downtown Zurich and Geneva and to all other major Swiss cities.

Public transport: Switzerland's public transport system is known to be one of the finest in the world. A dense network of railroad, bus and tram away lines and a systematic timetable allow to reach almost any point in the country once per hour.

Railroads:

Switzerland's main railroad lines are operated by Swiss Federal Railways owned by the Swiss confederation, but there exist a number of so-called privately owned railway companies. In reality, the Swiss confederation, the cantons [federal states] and communes concerned hold a vast majority of the capital of these railway companies (typically more than 90%) and also subsidize infrastructure and operation.

Excellent Intercity train connections from city center to city center make public transport a preferred choice for business people and politicians.

Cross-country Buses:

Almost any village in Switzerland can be reached by a regional bus line several times a day, most of them even once per hour. Swiss post operates many of these bus lines with their famous yellow post buses. Schedules and tickets of all cross-country buses are integrated into Switzerland's unique system of integrated public transports, so you may plan your journey at one portal website www.sbb.ch, get all necessary information where to change and even print out a through-fare ticket online.

Roads / Highways / Motorways: More than 1600 km [1000 miles] of motorways (interstate expressways with strictly separated lanes, most of them with four lanes) and 70,000 km [43,000 miles] of other highways and second-class roads (all of them paved) form a dense road network. Besides there are many unpaved, but well-maintained roads used by farmers and forest workers, but most of them may not be used without special permit. Statistically one out of two inhabitants owns a car, but there is a considerable minority (about 10%) of the urban population that relies on public transport and bicycles alone - most of them academics renouncing on a private car for conviction.

Alpine Transit: The alps, once a massive barrier between Italy and central Europe are still a key traffic bottleneck, though hundreds of bridges and tunnels have been constructed over the last 150 years. The Saint Gotthard (16 km, opened in 1882) and Lötschberg / Simplon railway tunnels were masterpieces of engineering at their time. Since the opening of the Saint Gotthard road tunnel (16.3 km [10.1 miles]) road traffic crossing the alps has considerably increased, causing heavy air pollution.

Waterways: Although Switzerland is landlocked, it operates its own merchant marine consisting of 25 large vessels on the seas and numerous barges connecting seaports with harbors in Switzerland. River Rhine has been made navigable from the North Sea up to the Swiss border in Basel and plays a major role in imports and exports of heavy goods. To be precise, the waterway continues for 19 more km [12 miles] along the Swiss-German border up to Rhein felden, a second harbor for the Basel region. The French canal du Rhône au Rhin actually links rivers Rhine and Doubs in the Alsace region (just northwest of Basel) and opens access from Basel to river Rhône and thereby to the Mediterranean Sea.

Waterways inside Switzerland do no longer play a key role in transportation. A short section of river Rhine at the lower end of the Bodensee [Lake Constance] is navigable, too, but as it is separated from Basel by the famous Rhine Falls at Neuhausen / Schaffhausen, freight transports are not interesting there. The section is used as an extension to passenger lines on Lake Constance which serve mainly touristic purposes.

Twelve major lakes in Switzerland are navigable. There is a limited amount of freight transport, especially of gravel deposited at the upper end of the lakes by the alpine rivers feeding the lake. Public passenger ships mostly serve the same purpose as dedicated privately owned pleasure cruise boats. People just wanting to get to the other end of the lake are usually faster by train or bus.

Distribution Channels

Online Distribution:

The research investigates how the hospitality sector in Switzerland has embraced the new world of (online) distribution. It analyses the role of existing distribution channels, and gives insights into channel management methods used. Data is gathered through an online survey among Swiss hotels resulting in 196 usable questionnaires. Findings show that direct booking channels remain the dominant sales tools in Switzerland, although their proportion in the distribution mix has been decreasing steadily in the last years. The Internet Distribution System channel reaches 16.4 % and thus is the channel with the highest growth rate in 2011. A cluster analysis on multi-channel distribution strategies results in four groups: multi-channel distributors, electronic distributors, real time distributors, and traditional distributors. Further, it is shown that more than half of the hotels manage rates and availabilities manually and only one out of four hotels has implemented a channel manager able to manage different channels.

Communication

As is widely known, Switzerland is a multilingual country with four official languages – Swiss German (nearly 70% of the indigenous population), French, Italian and Romansh. On the whole, the Swiss believe in plain speaking and place directness before diplomacy. It is expected and respected that people will speak their minds, without feeling the need to couch any uncomfortable messages in a softer way in order to spare the feelings of the audience. The type of coded language used by the Japanese or the British can be misconstrued in Switzerland as prevarication or even deviousness. Better to say what you mean and mean what you say.

As has already been stated, however, this directness of approach should not be confused with confrontation or aggression – it is more the result of a desire to get to the truth or the empirically provable right answer. People tend to be reticent to speak about personal issues to new contacts, preferring to keep communication on a strictly business footing. There is little small talk prior to starting a meeting and people will try to express themselves succinctly and without theatrical embellishments.

Commerce

Switzerland has numerous chambers of commerce charged with promoting better business ties between Switzerland and the outside world.

Chambers of Commerce and Industry: The Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Switzerland (CCIS) is an umbrella association of 18 cantonal chambers that helps with legal issues such as export documents and ATA carnets (which allow imported goods to be stored in one country before being exported to another without payment of duties and taxes), as well as with the promotion of a healthy Swiss economy.

Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce: It plays an active role in assisting Swiss companies in the US and US companies in Switzerland. It does this by providing information about doing business in these markets and promoting the countries as business destinations

British-Swiss Chamber of Commerce: More than 90 years after it was founded, (BSCC) today counts more than 650 members among its independent not-for-profit ranks.

Canadian-Swiss Chamber of Commerce: It is divided up across Canada by region, with representation in Vancouver, Montreal and Ontario. In Switzerland, the offices are based in Zurich. Members are a mix of Canadian and Swiss companies and individuals with professional or personal ties to Canada and Switzerland.  

Swiss-Australian Chamber of Commerce : Founded in 1985,(SACCI) has grown to a current membership of around 300 members and handles all trade enquiries with the Swiss government for the whole of Australia.The chamber is a national organization and provides business contacts both in Australia, Switzerland and Liechtenstein for small, medium and large organizations.

Airports: Switzerland has three international airports: Zurich-Kloten (ZRH), Geneva (GVA) and Basel-Mulhouse (BSL). The airports of Zurich and Geneva do have their own railway stations providing fast and frequent transfer into the very heart of downtown Zurich and Geneva and to all other major Swiss cities.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse P
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.