Notes from a Journeyed Man

I finally had a vision correction procedure this year -- specifically, altering my tunnelvision. I've been perched at my desk for four- and-a-half years, between Himalayas of new product announcements and a flood of e-mail, glibly writing about globalization and international companies, though I had not yet stepped foot off the North American continent. Which is why I joined a media tour of industry in Switzerland. (That, and someone else was paying for the week-long trip. Yeah, I hate my career.)

Our objective was to carry back the good word that Switzerland is the perfect place to establish a company, or set up a European headquarters. Switzerland is nearly in the geographic center of Europe, all the regional governments of the country have fiscal incentives for businesses, and production and distribution goes on mostly unimpeded, thanks to 65 years of labor settlements made without strikes. Further details can be gleaned from articles my fellow journalists wrote for their business real estate or relocation magazines, or by doing your own research. Everything presented to me certainly looked attractive for corporate planners.

But I kept peeking between the lines of the presentations, and what I kept seeing was a successful nation. Put bluntly, every hotel I stayed in supplied a brush next to the toilet. Not because they didn't have a cleaning staff -- these were pretty ritzy joints. It was more the attitude of individual responsibility -- "Ya make a big mess, you can clean up after yourself." There weren't warning labels on coffee cups telling people "Hey, stupid, you ordered hot coffee" -- a blissful lack of litigation lawyers running things. People weren't throwing trash from their car windows, nor were there foam cups or other detritus floating in the lakes or rivers I saw.

Those non-union workers on the factory tours didn't look repressed or ill-treated, nor were the company lots filled with "beater" cars with rust, dents and cracked windows. On inquiry, I was told that most Swiss households are single-income, which speaks volumes about their wages and taxes. Teachers are also well paid, with a small student-to-teacher ratio helping to produce well-educated kids. I never saw behemoth luxury cars or pick-ups, with just a scattering of medium-size SUVs and minivans. Gas prices are higher than in the States, but instead of complaining, people drive small cars, or ride the well-designed complex of inter- and intra-urban public transportation. The mayor of one community, after a luncheon meeting, pedaled away on a bicycle. Even their communications infrastructure is ahead of ours.

Near the end of the trip, I went to a currency exchange office in the Lucerne railway station. Next door was a tourist agency, for those wishing to travel out of Switzerland. The window held a display that obviously was suggesting America -- a mannequin in Western ranch wear, standing next to hay bales and several items referring to the home of the film industry. Despite all our big ideas and our big industries and our big cars and our big attitude, we are still best summed up as cowboys and Hollywood.

rmandel@aip.com
Richard Mandel
Senior Editor