PESTLE Analysis of Switzerland

Mohd Haris

Department of pharmaceutical management

NIPER Hyderabad

• The country is situated in western and central Europe.

• Bern is the capital city of Switzerland.

• There are 26 member states of the federation of Switzerland which are known as “canton”.

• Zurich is considered to be the economic capital city of Switzerland.

POLITICAL ANALYSIS

• Switzerland’s government, parliament and courts are organized on three levels:

Federal

Cantonal (based on 26 cantonal constitutions)

Communal (for small villages)

• The federal constitution covers the areas of foreign relations, the army, tariffs, value addedtaxes, and the legislation on currency, railways, and communications to the confederation

• Cantons and some major cities do control armed police forces, run hospitals and universities.

• Executive power is exercised by the government and the federal administration and is notconcentrated in any one person

• Switzerland’s government is a team consisting of seven members with equal rights therefore,president, vice-president are elected by the federal assembly from among the seven membersof the federal council for a period of one year

ECONOMICAL ANALYSIS

• Country has got a very stable and modern economy

• GDP of the country : $371.2 billion (2013 est.) which represents 1.05 percent of the worldeconomy with a growth rate of 1.7%

• Major source of country’s GDP are from service sector(72.5%) and industry sector 27%

• The gross domestic product per capita in Switzerland was last recorded at 55,485.60 USdollars in 2013 which equivalent to 448% of world’s average.

• Inflation rate : -0.4%

• Unemployment rate is estimated to be 2.9%

• Country stands at rank 28th in terms of ease of doing business from other countries of theworld

• 1 Swiss franc = 1.06 US dollar

• Exports are estimated at 308.4 billion and imports at 287.7 billion

SOCIAL ANALYSIS

• People in Switzerland are highly educated and modern and stands at 2nd in quality of lifeindex

• Ethnic groups: Germans 65%, French 18%, Italian 10%, Romansh 1%, others 6%.

• Country has four official languages: German, French, Romansh, and Italian

• Religions: Roman catholic 38.2%, Protestant 26.9%, Muslims 4.9%, other Christian 5.7%, other1.6%, none 21.4%, unspecified 1.3%

• It has a population of about 8 million about 25% of it are foreigners

• Population growth rate: 0.78% among which about 43% is between 25-54 and 17% are above6.

• Life expectancy at birth: 82.3

• Switzerland is considered to be “the best place in the world to be born” according to theeconomist intelligence unit.

TECHNOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

• The country is poor in natural resources but high in R&D whichconstitutes 2.9% to country’s GDP

• Every 12th person in 1000 is in R&D i.e. about 45%

• People of Switzerland are very active in E-markets and E-banking

• They have the most dense rail network in the whole Europe

• Out of very 100 people 97 are computer users and 76 are internet users

• Country is growing fast in chocolate manufacturing and supplying thewhole world

LEGAL ANALYSIS

• A tax heaven nation(each canton has its own taxes)

• Swiss citizenship: birth, marriage

• Health insurance is compulsory in the country

• Effective anti corruption measures

• Intellectual property rights are respected, and enforcement is consistent with world standard

• Country is open to foreign investment and the investment code is transparent and efficiently administered

• The overall tax burden equals 29.8% of the total domestic income

ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

• 31% of the Swiss territory comprises of woodland

• Massive biodiversity

• Natural resources: timber , salt etc.

• Country stands among the top 5 countries in terms of environmental performance index

• Electricity generated in Switzerland is 56% from hydroelectricity and 39% from nuclear power

• Swiss are one of the top recyclers in the world, with 66% to 96% of recyclable materials being recycled.

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