UBS explores how Swiss businesses stay competitive
Investing.com - Switzerland has frequently been associated with fostering strong businesses bolstered by its relative stability, high-quality infrastructure and skilled workforce, analysts have noted.
In a 2025 ranking of 69 countries conducted by IMD Business School, Switzerland was named as the most competitive, while a separate survey conducted by UBS found that Swiss companies generally rate their competitiveness "positively."
The UBS study found that, among the more critical assessments, export-oriented firms were some of the few to see Switzerland’s competitiveness as "poor to very poor" -- although the brokerage flagged that this assessment came in April, when sentiment was weighed down by concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies and a stronger Swiss franc.
Still, the UBS survey found that competitive pressures on Switzerland from overseas have been ratcheting up over the last five years, particularly from emerging market countries.
"Notably, not only has pressure from abroad increased, but domestic competition has also intensified," the analysts said, flagging that 44% of responding companies within Switzerland have flagged a rise in competitive pressures. This is largely due to the Swiss economy being characterized by domestically-oriented service firms, they said.
The UBS analysts argued that Swiss businesses -- especially the larger ones -- will likely need to focus on maintaining a solid cadence of development to hold on to their competitive advantage.
"The rule is: the larger the company, the more important continuous development becomes. Larger companies are more often export-oriented and therefore face both national and international competition," the analysts wrote. "As a result, competitive pressure is likely to be more diverse and competition more complex."
For smaller companies, on the other hand, the individual environment is probably more consequential than external factors, the analysts noted.
Still, 31% of micro-enterprises said they fear a deterioration in their competitive position without countermeasures, a fact which the strategists said "underscores that further development remains relevant for a significant proportion of these firms."
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