It’s been over a year since the Swiss National Bank discontinued the minimum exchange rate of 1.20 Swiss francs per euro, and the impact on Swiss exports is clearly evident. Last year, for example, orders in the machine, electrical engineering and metals industry nosedived across the branch by 14% and turnover dropped by 7%. Approximately one third of these companies slipped into the red in 2015 as a result, according to Swissmem, the branch association. For many companies, cost-cutting is the only way to survive. New business models for the European market are in great demand.

“Europe is our most important trading partner,” says Florian Keller, Head of the Center for European Business & Affairs (CEBA) at the ZHAW School of Management and Law. “A holistic understanding of the European market is a major competitive advantage for Swiss companies, since Europe offers a wide range of market opportunities, optimisation potential and global competitive advantages.” The CEBA was founded in April 2015 with the aim of drawing a differentiated picture of business and politics in Europe, and of developing new models. “Many companies are concentrating only on Germany and France, and in this way, they miss other market opportunities, such as Poland, Sweden and Great Britain,” says Keller. Before joining the ZHAW, Keller worked for the British government for four years advising companies in the European market. Using a fictitious example, he explains how holistic business models can function in Europe – without companies having to cut jobs in Switzerland.

In this example, the Swiss engineering company, Railnet, employs 24 people and provides services for railway installations in Switzerland and its surrounding countries. Since the end of the 1990s, the company has been particularly successful in France, and has contributed to major TGV rail projects of the SNCF, the French national railway company. Due to the strong Swiss franc, the company notices that it can compete less and less with other European providers in terms of price – even though the number of incoming orders is still rising. And on the domestic Swiss market, German providers are becoming a threat.