BALANCE IN THE BOARDROOM - THE WAY FORWARD?

Is Swiss business ready for tomorrow's world?

'Preliminary' Report on the Conference

• Do we have the resources we need, at the top of Swiss business, to help us survive and succeed in the uncertain future?
   
• Are we using all the talents available to us?
   
• Or… are we relying too much on people just like us, family, friends and old military comrades… because that's what makes us feel most comfortable?

These key themes were posed by experts in Swiss business - men and women, Swiss nationals and foreign Swiss-based executives - in a lively debate held in Geneva and Zurich in early November.

'BALANCE IN THE BOARDROOM' - a debate on diversity in Swiss business - was the third in a series of successful I.J. Martin & Company management conferences about Switzerland's business future. Staged over the last 2 years in Geneva and Basel, the others concerned equally controversial and topical themes - Corporate Governance and Valuing People At Work.

This conference broke several records - our biggest ever audience in Geneva, our first conference in Zurich, our biggest audience outside Geneva so far and, last but not the least, the first time that anyone in Switzerland has debated this sensitive and highly topical issue, in public, before an international business audience and the media.

'Balance In The Boardroom' challenged the audiences to answer the controversial questions :

• "Is there enough diversity of opinion in the boardrooms of Switzerland to ensure our success in tomorrow's world?"
   
• "Would the Swissair Crisis, and others, have happened if there had been stronger, more broadly-based opinions at the highest levels of Swiss business?"
   
• "In short, should more women and foreigners have seats around our Boardroom tables?"

Our guest speakers were well-known names such as Beth Krasna, Vice President of Swiss Federal Railways; Anthony Travis, partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers Geneva; Professor Jane Royston of EPFL Lausanne; Bonnie Fatio, Geneva politician and champion of women in business; Andre Baladi, founder of one of the world's leading investment groups; Bob Bishop, Chairman and Chief Executive of Silicon Graphics Inc.; Hans-Jacob Heitz, instigator of the Special Audit of the former SAirGroup; Pierre-Alain Avoyer, Far East Director of SOFI; Reto Jauch, MD of Harvey Nash and Susan Kish, Chairman of First Tuesday Global.

Each speaker had something new and interesting to add to the debate, in which the audiences in both venues took lively part. The audience themselves had the last word, in voting on 4 key issues.

"Should Swiss laws concerning director behaviour be applied more severely" drew a strong 74% Yes average response from both audiences. Zurich people felt even more strongly than their Geneva counterparts - not surprising given the local impact of the Swissair débacle.

"Should large Swiss companies have a US-style Diversity Policy made compulsory by law?" was not strongly supported by the audiences at only 29% Yes average agreement. Interestingly though, more than one in three Zurich people felt that the law should enforce diversity on larger businesses.

"Should Switzerland's directors be forced to hold a specific Director Diploma before taking up a seat on the Board" was interesting. The 'Yes' vote attracted 43% on average and Zurich was, again, more strongly supportive at 49%. Given that this is an entirely new concept, the support was encouraging.

Finally, "Should the law be changed to abolish the need to have a majority of Swiss national residents on the Board" was overwhelmingly supported by 92% of the combined audience, with little difference between the Geneva and Zurich opinions.

A full report on the speakers' presentations and the findings of the audience debate will be published in due course. I.J. Martin & Company offers its sincere thanks to our speakers and audiences, in Geneva and Zurich, for making the conference such a lively and enjoyable event.