Not a closed society

Swiss exhibition construction companies are seeking growth abroad, with the good Swiss-made quality image as a still-powerful asset. At the same time, though, competition is intensifying on an already difficult domestic market.

Long established and well-known. Those are features that, in Switzerland, practically guarantee prospering exhibition construction business, because one thing's for sure: the Swiss prefer to buy from the Swiss. Even the price is not paramount, and design that may already be old hat in Germany is still going well in Helvetia, industry insiders report. Conservative as the market may appear at first sight, it does at least offer an element of certainty that you can grow old in the Swiss exhibition construction trade. Absolute dinosaurs in the sector are big players like Nüssli, Hüttwilen, which has been around since 1941, and Messerli AG, Wetzikorn, whose corporate history dates back to 1954.
Even so, it looks as if building on trade in temporary constructions alone will no longer secure survival in the long run, with the result that many exhibit builders in Switzerland are seeking to expand their portfolio and step up their international activities. Andreas Messerli AG, for example, recently acquired a majority stake in Retailpartners AG in a bid to further develop retail interiors as a business mainstay. Beyond the Swiss mountains Messerli is also one of the big European exhibit builders and exhibition designers with an outpost in Doha, Qatar, for one.
A major player and active abroad, Nüssli is likewise a leading supplier of temporary constructions for events, fairs and the building trade. The internationally operative group of companies combines expertise in various business lines including stages, stands and scaffolding, with exhibit building. The resultant synergies led in 2000 to the establishment of its own exhibition construction unit. Word of this has not yet got around all that much internationally, however, although Nüssli has specialised in the realisation of extensive, multi-level exhibition projects, according to Martin Joos, head of exhibition construction at the company. Its customer portfolio includes German carmakers and the Swiss pharmaceuticals industry. Nüssli was also "in the thick of things", when Germany kicked off for the World Cup. In the centre of Berlin alone two distinctive temporary buildings were created in the shape of the Olympic Stadium reproduction and the Bundestagsarena.
With such spectacular achievements as these the Swiss burnish their reputation outside their national borders, which makes them look good when competing with their peers abroad for international contracts. It is an image that has long worked to the advantage of the Swiss, although insiders maintain that it is no longer quite in keeping with reality. Although the Swiss still make much of "Swiss quality" as a USP, there are exhibition construction companies delivering at least equally as good a product in Germany, for instance, Carsten Nadler, Key Account Manager at Impact Unlimited, insists. The company from the Appenzell region is also treading new paths to set itself apart from its rivals. A full-service exhibition and event offering is being added to the service portfolio. Service Unlimited is the name of the new programme adapted by the US parent company for the Swiss and European market. It features a wide variety of services related to exhibition stands, marketing, organisation and consulting. "The market expects offers like these. By international standards, developments in the Swiss exhibition construction industry are years behind in terms of service," Nadler says.
Huber Exhibition Management, Unterengstringen, is also playing on other courts in the exhibition construction-related segment, organising the Swiss Pavilion at the November Midest in Paris. In cooperation with OSEC Business Network Switzerland, the Association of Swiss Metalworking Subcontractors SMZ, and Swiss Business Hub France the perfect Swiss appearance is being arranged at the world's biggest industrial subcontracting fair. Service is comprehensive, through PR and advertising and access to a Hospitality Area down to stand cleaning and waste removal. As "general agent" of organisers Reed France, Huber thus helps SMEs from Switzerland in particular find their feet on the international market with no difficulty.
Expomobilia is another player from Switzerland. It began with domestic operations 30 years ago but soon branched out into other countries. Based in Zurich, it has identified the future in US clients and in Asia, because the Swiss market is flat, sales director Massimo Toma explains. Accordingly, Expomobilia meanwhile generates some 70 % of its sales abroad with companies "still prepared to pay for Swiss quality".
But success is not restricted to the big Swiss names alone. Others in Switzerland got moving a long time ago, too. Pape Messebau, for instance, is one of Switzerland's most prominent and oldest stand construction companies. From modest beginnings, an established company has grown in the course of 25 years, still owner-managed and independent. Zysset from Olten started out in 1972 as an advertising agency, realising its first exhibition projects abroad 26 years ago. Two years later it was already servicing foreign clients. Zysset have, since 1990, built joint Swiss stands and stands for the OSEC Business Network Switzerland and the Textile Machinery Division of Swissmem (Swiss Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Industries). Another firm that has been in business for a quarter-century is the Mathys Expo SA, headquartered in Vernier/Geneva. Since its foundation, Steinmetz Expo from Zurich has also handled more than 10,000 big projects and 40,000 medium-sized and smaller projects in Europe, the Near and Middle East, Asia and the USA. All firms, have realised that, moving forward, they will have to look for their business beyond Switzerland's national borders as the only way of generating sustained growth. The domestic Swiss market, long closed to outsiders, is also in the process of transformation. More and more companies from abroad are setting up branches in Switzerland. And this in a country that really only has three international trade fairs, Baselworld, Art Basel and the Automobil-Salon in Geneva.

m+a report Nr.5 / 2006 vom 14.08.2006
m+a report vom 14. August 2006