Roche, Logitech and Swisscom top the latest innovation rankings

Roche, Logitech and Swisscom replace the top trio of 2012 Swatch, Nestlé and Novartis, which are now in places 4-6. Pharmaceuticals and IT are thus perceived as more innovative than consumer and luxury goods in 2017. 526 managers in Switzerland were surveyed.

In fact, Switzerland is one of the most innovative countries in the world. For example, it took first place in the 2016 Global Innovation Index ranking. At the same time, according to a study by the Boston Consulting Group, no Swiss representative is among the top 50 companies perceived as the most innovative worldwide - Nestlé was still in the top 50 until 2014.

However, the perception of a company as innovative is important for its success, as numerous scientific studies have shown. The perceived innovativeness of a company is particularly important for the purchase intention and loyalty of customers and for the recruitment and loyalty of employees. For this reason, the Center for Innovation at the University of St. Gallen (CFI-HSG), htp St. Gallen, DHBW Karlsruhe and Scholz & Friends Switzerland are conducting a ranking of the perceived innovative strength of Swiss companies for the third time in 2017 after 2009 and 2012.

"Time and again, promising innovations fail because companies do not properly understand how their customers perceive and evaluate an innovation," says Torsten Tomczak. The innovation ranking is intended to help bring perceived innovative strength to the fore as an important factor for the success of the Swiss economy. Study director Stephan Feige from htp St. Gallen adds: "Many successful innovations can convince customers with a simple core idea. Perception is strongly determined by attractive talking points, which may lie elsewhere than the actual significant innovations".

Roche and Logitech in the lead, followed by Swisscom and Swatch

First-placed Roche invested 8.5 billion euros in research and development in 2015. In the perception of the study participants, the pharmaceutical company is characterized in particular by its innovative products. Logitech and Swisscom are the rising stars in the ranking, taking second and third place respectively.

The two leaders of the 2012 ranking, Swatch and Nestlé, are still in the top 5, but now in fourth and fifth place. Both companies are rated as innovative due to their products and customer experience. The Nespresso effect is still having an impact on Nestlé. The biotechnology and pharmaceutical company Novartis in sixth place and the Swiss electronics group ABB in eighth place have fallen back slightly.

In addition to digitalization, the trend topic of mobility also dominates the Swiss ranking. Stadler Rail has defended its ninth place from 2012. New entrants to the ranking in this context are Swiss Post in eleventh place and SBB in fifteenth place. The two largest retailers, Migros and Coop, are still among the companies perceived as the most innovative in Switzerland. However, both have lost places and are now in seventh and fourteenth place respectively. Both retailers are rated as highly innovative, particularly in terms of customer experience and sustainability.

Stable ranking - innovation perception is a marathon

The innovation ranking in Switzerland has been relatively stable since 2009. Innovation is a sustainable and long-term goal. In 2017, it was once again confirmed that "those companies that see innovation as a permanent process and have aligned the entire company to it are rated as the most innovative", according to co-author Silke Lennerts from the DBHW in Karlsruhe.

Communication is important

"For a company to be perceived as innovative, this innovativeness must also be communicated. Communication is an important competitive factor for building an innovative image," explains Tobias Händler, CEO of Scholz & Friends Switzerland. For example, Swiss Post is perceived as innovative in particular due to intensively communicated topics such as the shuttle service with the self-driving Postbus and the testing of drones for the delivery service as well as the digitalization of business processes.

About the survey

• Online survey of CEOs, managers, public institutes and multipliers/opinion leaders in Switzerland, invitation to participate in the survey by email
• 526 valid questionnaires evaluated
• A total of over 2200 companies (incl. multiple answers) named as innovative
• Field time: February 2017

The complete study can be obtained free of charge by emailing bestellung@innovationsstudie.ch.