"Just advertising with the Swiss cross is not enough".

He is on the road a lot. He recently returned from a stay in the USA: Ruedi Noser, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Noser Management AG and major shareholder of the companies in his Noser Group. He is only slightly older than SAQ: born in 1961 in the canton of Glarus, the entrepreneur was elected to the Swiss parliament in 2003. As a liberal National Councillor, he is committed to an economy that can develop freely, as well as to the concerns of SMEs and vocational training. In all these areas, quality plays a major, if not decisive, role. In the following interview, he talks about "Marketing Quality", the motto of the "Swiss Quality Day".

The terms "Switzerland" and "quality": to what extent is it still permissible to use them quasi-synonymously?

Ruedi Noser: "Swiss Made" has an excellent reputation. This is often valued even more highly abroad than in Switzerland itself. I was just at swissbakers in Boston: with baked goods in the Swiss tradition, this company is very well received by customers there. Swissness sells well.

Is there anything that you consider to be the epitome of Swiss quality?

There are many things to mention. For me, the most important thing is certainly the employees' commitment to their company and to what they do. There is a great deal of loyalty. If something isn't working properly at 5 p.m., you just stay a little longer and fix it. This attitude is based on a high level of motivation and is behind the reliability and security that people associate with Swiss quality.

The motto of the "Swiss Quality Day" is "Marketing Quality". Is Swiss quality being marketed sufficiently or is there still room for improvement?

When a company presents itself abroad, Swissness is certainly written on the first PowerPoint slide. That still has an effect. Within Switzerland, you probably don't have to market this Swissness as much. Because the Swiss basically only want to buy good quality products, they are a demanding customer. If you want to go abroad as a Swiss industrial company, then only with an absolute top product. Just advertising with the Swiss cross is not enough. The packaging must also contain top quality.

How does your group of companies pursue continuous quality improvement? Noser Engineering AG, for example, practices the EFQM model.

In order to be able to represent top quality to customers, you need reviewable models. EFQM is one of them. Within the group, however, we do not specify this, but leave the choice to the individual companies. However, it is important to us that a clean quality management process is in place and implemented. Noser Engineering was recently certified with five stars according to EFQM.

The free movement of persons has led to the creation of around one million jobs at a high level.

Let's talk a bit more about Switzerland as a place to work. You are a staunch advocate of it. If you look at the last few years: What course has been set and in what direction?

Politically, many things have been put in place in the right direction, but there are also things that are wrong. It is right that we have succeeded in preserving employers' entrepreneurial freedom as far as possible. But it was wrong to increase per capita training costs. Continuing education is important, and many companies do everything they can to promote their employees. But this must remain without tax consequences.

If we now look ahead: What are the challenges that need to be mastered? There is a lot of talk about the implementation of the mass immigration initiative, and the strong franc is another topic. What is still to come?

I don't think the mass immigration initiative has even reached many companies yet. Nevertheless, there is a great deal of uncertainty, and people are looking to the future with a certain amount of fear. But the free movement of persons has led to the creation of around one million jobs at a high level. The standard of quality has certainly been strengthened.

But the aforementioned uncertainty means that companies are hardly in a position to develop effective strategies?

There may be insecurity in Switzerland, but that is not only the case here. So you can't just move to Luxembourg, for example, in the hope that everything will be safer there. Compared to other European countries, however, Switzerland is still very attractive.

Does this also apply to the IT sector in which your company operates? What strengths does our country have to offer here?

Again, the commitment of the employees, who bring a high level of interest in their work. Swiss companies, including those in our Group, can boast very long relationships as suppliers. Whether this is because they are family businesses or because they are Swiss is not always clear. Perhaps it is precisely this familiarity that makes Swiss companies so strong.

And where do you see weaknesses?

If a national inheritance tax were to be introduced, this would very much weaken family businesses in particular. So there is a lot at stake.

Where do you see Switzerland in 2020, i.e. in five years' time?

Hard to say. Switzerland must certainly continue to work on being efficient with a low state quota. For a small state, it is important to have a low cost level. This is the only way to survive in the challenge of globalization. If we succeed in this, I believe our country will be well equipped. The level of innovation is still very high. And another analysis shows that our institutional strength is still there, while it is being lost in other countries. Many supranational organizations are coming to us. And we are capable of change: I am convinced that we will ultimately benefit from many upheavals.