Die Schweiz ist ein Magnet für multinationale Konzerne. Doch deren Unzufriedenheit mit dem Standort wächst

Schweiz attracts multinational corporations, but their discontent with the location grows

A new report by McKinsey identifies the biggest dangers for Switzerland's economy. The country's top economic economist expresses concern over a particular point. One persistent myth similar to the boiling frog story is the notion of a frog staying in slowly heating water until it's too late. Biologically, this is incorrect as frogs will jump out of water when it's gradually heated.

Nevertheless, the metaphor has made a career for itself, representing a slow decline. Switzerland has managed to attract and retain large multinational corporations for decades, employing over 1.5 million people, contributing to 40 percent of economic output, growing faster than domestic businesses, and paying over 50 percent of federal company taxes.

These include Glencore, Nestlé, UBS, Roche, Novartis, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, and Alphabet, some of which have been present for over a century, while others have recently settled. The Swiss economy and its multinational corporations are a success story. However, how fleeting is the Swiss economic miracle? A new study by McKinsey Switzerland and the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce (Swiss Amcham) suggests Switzerland is slowly losing ground on several central location factors.

The consulting firm and the trade chamber analyzed data on the mobility behavior of 15,000 global corporations with at least CHF 1 billion in revenue. They counted how many corporations moved to or relocated their existing presence to Switzerland from the main European competition locations of Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom, excluding outflows.

They also surveyed more than sixty corporate chiefs and executives of international companies in Switzerland regarding the development of key location factors. Three shifts stand out, raising concerns. Surprisingly, Switzerland still managed to maintain its share of relocations and new establishments of major multinational corporations in the five aforementioned countries between 2020 and 2025, accounting for around 20 percent, ranking third after Ireland and the Netherlands.

However, the cake has become smaller. Between 2014 and 2019, 179 companies relocated their sites to Europe in the studied countries, compared to 142 between 2020 and 2025. In percentage terms, Switzerland's success is as good as ever. The type of establishments also changes. Significantly fewer companies decide, according to McKinsey, to move their global corporate headquarters to Switzerland.

In the study period, Switzerland's share in this area fell from 27 to 19 percent; in financial centers, it fell in a similar proportion. In contrast, tech corporations increasingly open research centers in Switzerland, which, while not necessarily a disadvantage, creates more economic added value than ordinary corporate headquarters.

For example, Google has created value in Zürich with several thousand employees working on products ranging from YouTube to Google Maps. However, the loss of new corporate headquarters will eventually become noticeable. When companies like Anthropic, Baidu, or Open AI invest in Zurich, it impresses location promoters. Seventeen percent of all technology sector establishments in Switzerland went to the country between 2020 and 2025, a significant increase of seven percentage points.

However, the prominent names obscure the dimensions. "The Switzerland currently serves as a European satellite location for many of these companies," said McKinsey Switzerland's chief Michael Steinmann. This means: As large as Google in Zürich, probably none of the companies will become. Interestingly, in a traditional Swiss parade discipline, the development goes the other way: pharmaceuticals.

Only one-third of the establishments went to Switzerland, compared to nearly half between 2014 and 2019. Switzerland also experienced a decline in the industrial and consumer goods sectors, as McKinsey points out. The numbers show that the weights in the location competition are shifting. Therefore, assessing the companies that are already operating in Switzerland becomes increasingly important.

Speaking with McKinsey and the Swiss Amcham, surveyed CEOs named the biggest dangers for the Swiss economy. Three of them stand out: around 70 percent of corporate chiefs complain about growing regulatory burdens, increasingly formalistic application of rules, the frequent "Swiss Finish," and slow government processes. While this is not surprising, as unions often criticize too high wages, companies also grumble about too many regulations.

Remarkably, the federal government also acknowledges the problem. Ronald Indergand, the new chief economist at Seco, confirms to the NZZ that regulatory pressure and the density of regulations are increasing. "We observe year after year that the burden is growing." Switzerland may still be in a better position compared to certain other countries, but we are not moving in the right direction. There are over 36,268 obligations that companies must fulfill in Switzerland.