Corporate governance and initial public offerings in Switzerland

TY - CHAP

T1 - Corporate governance and initial public offerings in Switzerland

AU - Ruigrok, Winfried

AU - Georgakakis, Dimitrios G.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © Cambridge University Press 2012.

PY - 2012/1/1

Y1 - 2012/1/1

N2 - Introduction: Switzerland is an interesting country to study the dynamics of initial public offerings (IPOs) because it offers two paradoxes. Understanding the backgrounds of these paradoxes helps to appreciate the nature of the Swiss corporate governance system, and the direction that this system may take as a result of recent IPO activity. First, Switzerland has recently been ranked as the most competitive country in the world (World Economic Forum, 2010: 14). Specifically, its position as second in the world in terms of “innovation and sophistication factors” suggests that Switzerland may be the home of a large number of IPOs. However, over the period 2006–8, only sixteen IPOs were registered in Switzerland that met the IPO definition that is used in this volume. Second, located in the heart of Europe with a population of 7.6 million people, Switzerland is the home of many leading multinational corporations (MNCs) such as Nestlé, Novartis, Roche, Zurich Financial Services, UBS and Credit Suisse. Indeed, with almost 2 Fortune Global 500 firms per 1 million Swiss citizens, Switzerland has the highest density of Fortune Global 500 firms in the world. Furthermore, Switzerland has also been the object of large-scale foreign direct investments by non-Swiss MNCs keen to relocate headquarter-type activities to Switzerland. However, efforts to raise the attractiveness of Switzerland to foreign institutional investors have been less than successful and foreign investors have thus far played a modest role in the Swiss corporate governance scene.

AB - Introduction: Switzerland is an interesting country to study the dynamics of initial public offerings (IPOs) because it offers two paradoxes. Understanding the backgrounds of these paradoxes helps to appreciate the nature of the Swiss corporate governance system, and the direction that this system may take as a result of recent IPO activity. First, Switzerland has recently been ranked as the most competitive country in the world (World Economic Forum, 2010: 14). Specifically, its position as second in the world in terms of “innovation and sophistication factors” suggests that Switzerland may be the home of a large number of IPOs. However, over the period 2006–8, only sixteen IPOs were registered in Switzerland that met the IPO definition that is used in this volume. Second, located in the heart of Europe with a population of 7.6 million people, Switzerland is the home of many leading multinational corporations (MNCs) such as Nestlé, Novartis, Roche, Zurich Financial Services, UBS and Credit Suisse. Indeed, with almost 2 Fortune Global 500 firms per 1 million Swiss citizens, Switzerland has the highest density of Fortune Global 500 firms in the world. Furthermore, Switzerland has also been the object of large-scale foreign direct investments by non-Swiss MNCs keen to relocate headquarter-type activities to Switzerland. However, efforts to raise the attractiveness of Switzerland to foreign institutional investors have been less than successful and foreign investors have thus far played a modest role in the Swiss corporate governance scene.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84925678950&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/CBO9781139061513.020

DO - 10.1017/CBO9781139061513.020

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:84925678950

SN - 9781107016866

SP - 449

EP - 469

BT - Corporate Governance and Initial Public Offerings

PB - Cambridge University Press

ER -