Matters of Trust 🤝
SWISS plans to fire - and the Symposium keeps on ticking...
Dear Insider,
Slogans are often misleading.
And in many cases, they mask a serious lack of substance, ill-intentions…or worse…
This year’s St Gallen Symposium (see Spotlight below) was produced under the banner of “Trust Matters” - a worthy title given the events of the past year - and the past 4 years in particular.
Whether the 2000 attendees and the 150+ speakers at the event managed to shed any light on the matter of trust - and more importantly, its building and preservation - remains to be seen.
But one thing is for sure - with banks losing risky bets (Credit Suisse et al) and flagship industries threatening to massively cut jobs (SWISS - see The Briefing below), trust is becoming a commodity in rather short supply.
The Swiss system has generally operated well with a large amount of trust endowed to its institutions - and to its people as well, who regularly decide important social, economic and political issues in country-wide referenda. Like the many linked parts of a mechanical Swiss watch, the gears turn in constant motion, greased by generations of trust at all levels.
But covid-19 is testing this trust and testing it in ways that may end up having long-term effects.
Only with time will we see how much trust really matters…
🔦 Spotlight - St Gallen Symposium
Students tend to be chaotic.
Last-minute term papers, late-night parties, dorm rooms that rival the Amazon jungle for disorder.
Not at the St. Gallen Symposium.
The annual, so-called “intergenerational” conference organized each year by a select group of University of St Gallen students regularly brings in top speakers - politicians, captains of industry and journalists - from around the world.
The Symposium is - in a way - a quintessential Swiss enterprise: collaborative, strongly interconnected and of the highest quality.
Speakers at this year’s 50th edition included:
Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz
Roche Chairman Christoph Franz
Canadian Ambassador to China Dominic Barton
Director General of the European Space Agency Josef Aschbacher
The half-centennial of the prestigious event comes at a good time for HSG as it is known in German. Perennially ranked as one of Europe’s top universities for business and entrepreneurship (the top-flight START Summit is also an annual fixture in St Gallen).
New rector Bernhard Ehrenzeller must help restore the school’s (somewhat) tarnished reputation which has taken a hit over since recent scandals involving professors using their own companies in connection with research and a predecessor accused of market manipulation with stocks in the Jungfrau mountain train company.
The success of this year’s Symposium - held in a hybrid format, using a virtual conferencing platform built specially for the occasion - will go a long way towards helping Rector Ehrenzeller in his task.
By the Numbers
Numbers that matter…
40%
Can it be done? A recent survey conducted by UBS showed that decided majority of companies support the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. BUT - a mere 40% of them actually believe that such an ambitious target can be reached.
220 million
Sennheiser is a venerable brand in the audio equipment industry - and now it has a new owner. Swiss hearing aid maker Sonnova has acquired the German company’s consumer products division for a cool CHF 220 million. On some levels the acquisition makes sense - on another level, odd. For once - a Swiss brand wins out.
2500
Who likes to stand in line? No one. Unfortunately, technical development of wireless data networks and data networks in general in Switzerland isn’t progressing so quickly. Some blame 5G. Whatever the reason, a new study has revealed that around 2500 new antenna projects are being held up. Patience is a virtue…
50%+
Even as negotiations with Brussels languish - a recent survey from NZZamSonntag and Sonntagsblick has made it clear that a majority of Swiss citizens support the implementation of an institutional framework agreement with the European Union. Will the diplomats turn out to be adults after all?
Feeling smarter (already)? 😀
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The Briefing
Burning news from around Switzerland - bit by bit…
🛬 Terminal grounding
More than one year after the full impact of corona reached the European continent, Swiss airlines is reaching its limits. The Lufthansa-owned airline continues to expect drastic cuts (up to 780 employees) and its employees face termination. Critical voices suspect that CEO Dieter Vranckx is using the drawn-out economic crisis sparked by covid-19 as an excuse to cut costs. The Swiss Federal Council and trade unions have also reacted swiftly - and negatively - to the news. Will there be more state-sponsored intervention to prop up SWISS?
Swiss Confederation President expresses his discontent with SWISS’s plans for job cuts.
🔥 Running hot?
Whether things are kicking into high, economic gear in Switzerland (for good) remains to be seen. Early signs in 2021 point to a decidedly strong recovery, although many still have their doubts. One advantage of being a mainly export-oriented economy is that demand for Swiss products, especially on the industrial side, has picked up rapidly in countries where the covid-19 pandemic is already (seemingly) under control. Orders from China and the US are already contributing to strong export statistics in the first quarter of the year.
🏡 Bubbling up?
Corona has done funny things to real estate in Switzerland. While lockdowns have hit owners of commercial rental property hard, home prices have generally remained steady. Now the UBS Swiss Real Estate Bubble Index has jumped 70bps in Q1 of 2021 and with the move entered a so-called “risk zone.” Prices across the industry have increased by 4,4% - the largest increase in over 8 years. Despite the potential “overheating” - UBS analysts expect their Bubble Index to return to its previouslevels (1,73%) by the end of the year.