When assessing a business location, foreign investors will look at various factors such as its economic structure, political system, workforce potential and quality of life. Obviously, expertise and growth within the company’s specific sector will also come into play. Some countries, like Switzerland for instance, offer ideal conditions in all these areas and can therefore easily seduce foreign companies. They have the luxury to be more picky and welcome only organizations which bring concrete added-value, for instance in terms of employment opportunities. However, only a few nations can afford to apply such an “only for the best” rule.
According to the IBM Global Location Trends report, which outlines the latest trends in corporate location selection, Switzerland is the world’s second best country when it comes to the added value and knowledge intensity of the jobs created by investment projects. The country also claimed first place by a wide margin in the European rankings for location factors released by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. The number of new companies in Switzerland perfectly reflects such results: more than 40,000 new organizations were entered into the commercial register in 2014 alone, of which over a third constitute foreign investors.
For more information about Switzerland as a business location, please refer to our Handbook for Investors.
