No. 113, December

In November 2017, the KOF Business Situation Indicator for the Swiss private economy dropped slightly for the second time in a row. Although the business situation is still favourable, it does not look quite as magnificent as during the summer months. Nevertheless, all in all the KOF survey results indicate a consistently robust business situation.

With the Christmas business just around the corner, Swiss consumers appear to be quite optimistic – a fact that should be appreciated by domestic retailers. However, this year is likely to have been another dynamic one in terms of cross-border shopping. It remains to be seen how much money will roll in for domestic retailers and how much they will be forced to surrender to their competitors across the border.

Bringing a product from idea to market is a stony and sometimes expensive process. The classic approach is to keep everything under wraps so that no competitor knows what you are doing. However, this approach is not always the best one, as new research by Georg von Krogh, Torbjørn Netland and Martin Wörter shows.