Swissness Bill
1. Introduction
In the era of globalization, manufacturing processes are no longer confined to a single country. As a result, it is often challenging for consumers to know the true origin of the products that they buy. At the same time, a product’s country-of-origin can have significant influence on consumers’ perceptions of the products. Swiss products present an exceptionally good reputation around the world; consumers perceive Swiss products as highly reliable and with very high quality. In fact, stating their “Swiss origin” induces substantial economic value for the producers; products can be marked up by at least 20% 1 with the “Switzerland” country-of-origin label alone. Essentially, the “Swiss” origin acts as a brand on its own. As a result, the “Swiss” brand has attracted increasing number of “free-riders” and instances of wrongful uses. The Swiss officials are concerned about the potential damages that such wrongful uses can bring to the “Switzerland” brand. The deceptive usages of the “Switzerland” brand may mislead consumers and cause them to lose confidence to all other Swiss products; hence damaging the value of the “Switzerland” brand as a whole. As a result, the Federal Council of Switzerland proposed the Swissness Bill in an attempt to promote and strengthen the protection the “Swiss” brand. In this essay, I will explain why the Swissness Bill was proposed under globalization and the impacts of the Bill on local producers and consumers.
2. Why was the Swissness Bill proposed under globalization?
1
Stephan Feige, Benita Brockdorff, Karsten Sausen, Peter Mathias Fischer, Urs Jaermann, Sven Reinecke, 2008. Swissness Worldwide – International Study on the Perception of the Brand Switzerland, University of St. Gallen.
1
In this section, I will first analyze the “Switzerland” brand itself to explain why a brand, which is essentially just a country-of-origin label, requires protection. Secondly, I will explain how globalization addresses
In the era of globalization, manufacturing processes are no longer confined to a single country. As a result, it is often challenging for consumers to know the true origin of the products that they buy. At the same time, a product’s country-of-origin can have significant influence on consumers’ perceptions of the products. Swiss products present an exceptionally good reputation around the world; consumers perceive Swiss products as highly reliable and with very high quality. In fact, stating their “Swiss origin” induces substantial economic value for the producers; products can be marked up by at least 20% 1 with the “Switzerland” country-of-origin label alone. Essentially, the “Swiss” origin acts as a brand on its own. As a result, the “Swiss” brand has attracted increasing number of “free-riders” and instances of wrongful uses. The Swiss officials are concerned about the potential damages that such wrongful uses can bring to the “Switzerland” brand. The deceptive usages of the “Switzerland” brand may mislead consumers and cause them to lose confidence to all other Swiss products; hence damaging the value of the “Switzerland” brand as a whole. As a result, the Federal Council of Switzerland proposed the Swissness Bill in an attempt to promote and strengthen the protection the “Swiss” brand. In this essay, I will explain why the Swissness Bill was proposed under globalization and the impacts of the Bill on local producers and consumers.
2. Why was the Swissness Bill proposed under globalization?
1
Stephan Feige, Benita Brockdorff, Karsten Sausen, Peter Mathias Fischer, Urs Jaermann, Sven Reinecke, 2008. Swissness Worldwide – International Study on the Perception of the Brand Switzerland, University of St. Gallen.
1
In this section, I will first analyze the “Switzerland” brand itself to explain why a brand, which is essentially just a country-of-origin label, requires protection. Secondly, I will explain how globalization addresses