Location: Switzerland; Expat entrepreneurs and foreign firms seeking headquarters often discover that Switzerland offers more than they bargained for: low taxes, a highly educated workforce and an unbeatable infrastructure.

Swiss News › Nbr. 2002, June 2002

Author: Hays, Kim

Position:: Business - Many foreign companies open new branches in Switzerland - International Pages

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Business - Many foreign companies open new branches in Switzerland - International Pages

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Location: Switzerland; Expat entrepreneurs and foreign firms seeking headquarters often discover that Switzerland offers more than they bargained for: low taxes, a highly educated workforce and an unbeatable infrastructure.

Switzerland is expensive; over 60per cent of its people speak an impenetrable German dialect; it isn't part of the European Union; and it's the only country in the world that doesn't belong to the United Nations. Surely no one from abroad would want to open a business here.

Wrong. Hundreds of foreign companies have opened branches in Switzerland, and every year sees the start-up of a new batch of small consulting firms run by non-Swiss. This hasn't just happened by chance, however; it is in large part due to the hard work of SECO, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, whose "Location: Switzerland" programme is the centre of a determined campaign to attract and keep foreign businesses. Equally determined are the economic development agencies of the different cantons, which vie with each other to welcome new employers and investors from abroad.

Among these recent investors are six who talked to Swiss News about starting ...

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