Location: Switzerland is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east.

Capital: Bern

Population: 7,700,000

Language: Switzerland is multilingual and has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh.

Lifestyle & Aspirations
The Swiss work hard and play hard, with great emphasis placed on work-life balance. Sport plays an important part in most people's lives. Skiing, snowboarding, ice skating and cross country skiing are all popular winter activities, with hiking the country's network of 50,000 footpaths keeps people busy and healthy in the summer months. There is also renewed interest in sailing, following the victory of the Swiss team in the last America's Cup, and many people living around the lakes will own a small boat.
Outdoor pursuits aside, reading and spending time with friends and family always rate highly in lifestyle surveys. Playing a musical instrument is less popular, although many people sing in a local choir - Männerchor or Jodlerclub (men's choir or yodelling club) in German-speaking Switzerland, mixed choirs in French-speaking Switzerland.
Music festivals usually take place in the summer and attract people from all over the country. These range from the famous Montreux Jazz Festival, which attracts big names from all over the world, to the Lucerne Festival of classical music.
The Swiss are also very proud of their wine, although very little of it is exported. Many enthusiasts produce their own from the family-owned vineyard; if you are invited to sample this, you should feel extremely honoured.

The Essentials (10 Key Tips)
1. Respect the Swiss tradition of punctuality. Time is very valuable to the Swiss.
2. In this highly regulated conservative business environment, there is a reluctance to take risks. Make sure you have comprehensive data and precedents to support any proposal you make which implies change or risk.
3. The Swiss have a reputation for getting the best deal out of opponents without appearing aggressive or demanding. Likewise you should avoid pressurizing them in negotiations. Instead emphasize the quality of your offer and stay calm and consistent.
4. Allow your Swiss counterparts to put you in
context - who you've worked with in the past, who you know in Switzerland.
5. Be very respectful of Swiss adherence to rules and regulations. Never attempt to circumvent them.
6. Modesty and humility are important virtues and clarity is equated with sincerity.
7. Business is regarded with seriousness. Humour has no place in negotiations with the Swiss. Techniques to lighten the mood or 'break the ice' are fine but be careful these do not detract from the seriousness of why people are working together. Take a more formal line until relationships are established.
8. Speak quietly and without excessive emotion - being over-emotional is being out of control.
9. The Swiss strive hard to avoid open disagreements and conflict but if necessary will look at the implications for all parties involved. You should respect this group sensitivity when issues are tense or problematic.
10. Swiss people are very patriotic. They are also very private. Show your interest in Switzerland and local culture (remember there are German Swiss, Italian and French Swiss!) but do not ask personal questions about age, marital status, religion.

Working with the Swiss
The Swiss are pragmatic and hard working, and obsessed (it may appear) with efficiency and quality. There is a certain feeling (usually right) that Swiss products are superior to cheaper imitations. This said, the Swiss do not flaunt their wealth. Ostentatious behaviour and lifestyle trappings, bragging about achievements and name-dropping are all considered vulgar and socially unacceptable.
The Swiss are very private people, and prefer to keep work and personal life separate. Swiss people don't wear their hearts on their sleeves; the feeling is that if you have a problem, you should try to solve it yourself rather than expecting someone else to take responsibility.
While a good business plan and excellent credentials are more important than being able to bond with your Swiss counterparts, the country does have a strong business network and who you know is very important, particularly when it comes to making introductions. But ultimately, you will be judged on your ability to deliver, to meet deadlines, to offer top quality after-sales service and to act in an honest and ethical way.

Making a Good Impression
You will make a good impression in Switzerland by being honest, straightforward, serious about your business and able to back up arguments with facts and logic. Dress smartly and conservatively, with clean, polished shoes and understated but quality accessories. Always, always turn up on time for meetings and show respect for the rather formal way in which the Swiss address one another (using Mr, Dr etc until invited to use first names).
Observe the social norm of not asking too many personal questions. Age, income, family circumstances and so on are taboo subjects. The Swiss keep themselves to themselves and people do not get involved in one another's problems. If you have a problem, you are expected to try to solve it yourself.
Privacy is important. The Swiss are not particularly impressed by celebrity or great wealth -they are surrounded by it. Strict laws supporting privacy exist in banking and law, with stiff penalties for anybody who breaks them.
Managers should observe the national love of consensus. Everybody must have their say in decision-making, even if the decision is ultimately made by the manager. Instead of trying to force your view on a project, influence it by getting involved and making yourself indispensable.

Business Etiquette
Business cards
Business cards are exchanged at all meetings, so bring a good supply. When you arrive for an appointment, hand your card to the receptionist and keep a second one for your contact. It is not necessary to translate your business card unless your job title is especially complicated.
More emphasis is placed on hierarchy within the company than on academic achievement, so be sure to show your job title clearly. It is not necessary to list professional qualifications,although it is acceptable to use Dr if you are a PhD.
While there is no special card-giving ritual in Switzerland, it is polite to keep somebody's card on the table while you are having a meeting with them.

Body language
Body language in Switzerland is not a great giveaway. People tend to be quite formal in meetings. Slouching or putting your feet up would be considered rude or unprofessional. An attentive manner is important. Don't chew gum in meetings, or talk with your hands in your pockets may be perceived as a little too casual for comfort.
Effusive gestures are tolerated but not necessarily liked. Backslapping or thumping the table for emphasis may be seen as over-familiar and a loss of personal control. Swiss people will keep their distance physically and emotionally, so do not get too close and make someone uncomfortable.

Gift-giving
Switzerland does have a culture of business gift-giving - suitable gifts include glossy books about your own country; quality whisky or cognac; and tasteful items bearing a company logo.
Unsuitable items include cheap watches (you may be laughed at privately for presenting these); chocolate that is anything but top quality; roses (a gesture of romantic love) and chrysanthemums (better for funerals).
Knives are generally considered to represent the cutting of a bond, although a lot of companies do give miniature Swiss army knives bearing their logo as a gift.

Communication style
The Swiss are fairly direct and frank communicators after a fashion but do not give away a lot with their body language. Leaning forward means agreement, whereas leaning backward indicates suspicion. Crossing the arms is a sign of shutting out the other party, meaning that the person disagrees or is bored. If a Swiss person is quiet, it could either mean a lack of enthusiasm or that they are listening intently; the Swiss are not given to grand gestures and expressive body language.

Business Meeting Culture
Planning a meeting
With German-speaking Swiss in particular, be very clear about what the meeting is for and what you hope to achieve from it.
Meetings may take place very early, as early as 7am, and not for breakfast but for 'real' work. Managers will often make a point of arriving before their staff. So if you want to pin somebody down before they become distracted by their working day, aim for an early start.
Prepare an agenda for the meeting and circulate it in advance. It goes without saying that you should turn up on time.

During the meeting
In more formal companies, the senior manager will speak first and will lead the discussion. It is rude to address his/her subordinates before speaking to or acknowledging him/her.
Business meetings are formal and task-orientated and will follow the agenda. Discussions should be open, with everybody contributing and an aim of arriving at a consensus and leaving the meeting with a clear action plan.
The three language groups may all display stereotypical qualities during a meeting (for example, the Italian-speaking Swiss enjoy heated debate, French-speaking Swiss may indulge in rhetorical discussion, German-speaking Swiss may prefer to follow a set of rules) but they will not necessarily behave like Italian, French or German nationals. Do not enter a meeting expecting this or judge the Swiss based on their language group.

After the meeting
Be absolutely vigilant about meeting any deadlines that were set during the meeting as your Swiss counterparts will judge you on your ability to deliver.
Written communication to follow up a point is better than oral; the Swiss are formal and precise and will put everything in writing themselves.

Motivating Others
In general, the Swiss are competitive, responsible, tolerant, materialistic, proud and private. Their primary motivations are personal accomplishment and self-determination, along with comfort, security, guarantees, efficiency and order.
Swiss workers will be motivated by security of employment and by having clear goals towards which to work. People expect to be with a company for a long time and to rise slowly through the ranks. A strong but fair team leader, an accessible but slightly autocratic boss and a structure within which everybody knows their place are all important motivators. Being part of the decision-making process is also important; everybody expects to be allowed to voice an opinion.
Money is an important factor to Swiss workers and annual bonuses are a popular form of motivation. Flashy status symbols are less appreciated, like large company cars; many people prefer to use public transport to get to work in any case. Status is not usually demonstrated by having a huge corner office, either; the Swiss consider anything ostentatious to be vulgar.

Effective Presentations
The Swiss, on the whole, are not natural speakers and presenters, being somewhat cautious, polite and private. If you, as the foreign visitor, are presenting, you must keep your style lively and interesting, highly factual, slick but not flashy, and free of emotion.
Your presentation should focus on hard fact, not emotions or personal opinions, and should not try to sell something as the cheapest on the market, but rather, the highest quality on the market.

Audience expectations
By nature, the Swiss are good listeners and will take in everything a presenter says. They are unlikely to interrupt or to comment on a presentation, but will take notes during it. They will not talk to one another or on their cellphones during a presentation. They will be interested to hear what a speaker has to say, but will not necessarily be swayed by the
argument, however impassioned it may be.
Time should be left after a presentation for questions and answers, but the reserved Swiss may prefer to pose questions on a one-to-one basis, so make allowances for this, too.

Managing Relationships
Relationships in Switzerland do not need a great deal of personal contact (in the German-speaking areas, at least) provided you deliver your product on time and to an appropriate standard. While it is always useful to build a personal relationship with clients and suppliers, it is not a prerequisite to doing business.
Within the workplace, relationships tend to be cordial but formal, particularly among older people, who are still likely to use surnames and the polite form of address. Among the younger generation and in the multinationals, this is changing rapidly, but convention should still be observed initially. Employee motivation schemes do exist, but money is a powerful motivator to most Swiss workers.
Feedback in the workplace should be given with care, particularly if it's negative. Swiss people like to save 'face' and avoid direct confrontation and aggression. Junior employees may also feel uncomfortable being asked to give feedback on their superiors.
Getting feedback from clients is important as the Swiss strive to deliver the highest quality, and great emphasis is placed on customer care and customer loyalty schemes.