Robustness represents the next strength of "Made in Switzerland"

Sustainability and economic performance have for too long been treated as two separate topics. After more than fifteen years working closely with companies and their challenges, I have observed that their link is increasingly widely recognized. This rapprochement comes at a time when Swiss companies must contend with growing uncertainty.

According to the latest Deloitte survey of Swiss CFOs, geopolitical risks remain their top concern, ahead of weak demand and currency risks. Concerns related to supply chains and energy prices have also increased. Companies want to move forward. They simply have to do so with less visibility, in an environment where conditions can change quickly.

Another way to create value

It is precisely in this context that resilience becomes a strategic issue. It does not mean eliminating all fluctuations, but continuing to operate, to adapt and to create value despite them. For a company, this means understanding the resources it depends on, identifying its vulnerabilities and strengthening its ability to absorb shocks rather than merely react to them.

Take a company facing a supply difficulty. It must naturally find an immediate response. However, changing suppliers does not necessarily remove the underlying vulnerability. To make an informed decision, it needs to understand where its raw materials come from, which actors it depends on and what risks could affect their availability.

For a company, resilience depends on a better understanding of the resources it relies on.

Some companies have been working on these issues for years as part of their sustainability strategies. Knowledge of value chains, traceability and dependency analysis initially helped to better understand environmental impacts. They are now also used to secure supplies, anticipate changes and better guide decisions. The issue is therefore no longer about where to place sustainability alongside the company's strategy. It is about addressing immediate constraints without weakening the future.

Building common approaches

I have been able to observe this reality up close in Italy, notably in the fashion industry. Several actors in the sector had committed to achieving common environmental objectives. Once these commitments were made, the same observation kept coming up: companies needed more data and traceability.

When everyone moves forward according to their own methods, the burden falls back on suppliers. In contrast, when a sector adopts common approaches, it reduces this complexity and enables companies to progress together, while preserving the strength of the network of specialized firms on which the viability of an entire industry depends.

This reflection also aligns with work seeking to complement traditional economic indicators. Initiatives like Swiss Impact & Prosperity show that beyond growth, an economy's ability to create lasting value and preserve its resources also becomes a performance indicator.

For a company, this resilience depends on a better understanding of the resources it relies on, the vulnerabilities of its value chains and the transformations that can affect its activity. Resilience is not a state. It is a capacity that develops through a finer understanding of these issues and better-informed decisions.

Several key sectors of our economy rely on a network of specialized companies that collaborate and are integrated into international value chains. The strength of a sector also depends on that of its various actors.

In watchmaking, there is a real opportunity to evolve what "Made in Switzerland" means.

Adapting the "Made in Switzerland"

Watchmaking and jewelry provide a good illustration. A Swiss watch is the product of a complex value chain that extends well beyond our borders. For gold and other precious materials, companies need reliable information on the origin of materials and their production conditions.

These industries have a real asset. Precision, measurement and reliability are at the heart of their industrial culture and, more broadly, of Swiss know-how. They also have long experience of collaboration between companies of different sizes. The task now is to put these strengths at the service of the new challenges facing these sectors.

This is what the Watchmaking Ecodesign initiative seeks to do. This project produces environmental data adapted to the materials and processes specific to watchmaking. The idea is simple: data only has value if it enables better decision-making.

A recent study on component cleaning demonstrates this very concretely. It covered 22 machines across seven sites, involving five watch houses and one subcontractor. The results revealed considerable discrepancies between the equipment, linked notably to their sizing and utilization rates.

One of the participating houses used these results to review its purchasing criteria and redirect an investment. Some equipment appeared to be oversized relative to the volumes actually processed. The company therefore adjusted its requirements regarding capacity, electrical consumption and type of machine.

In watchmaking, where brands depend on a network of specialized subcontractors, this cooperation also contributes to the resilience of the entire sector. There is an opportunity here to evolve what "Made in Switzerland" means. Quality, precision and reliability are already part of it. In a more uncertain world, we can add a new requirement of resilience. This implies better knowledge of our dependencies, anticipating changes and preserving the industrial ecosystems on which our economy relies.

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