Corruption continues to be widespread worldwide. Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index shows that it has not decreased globally over the last ten years and has even worsened in many countries. Also, important target countries for Swiss foreign trade have a high level of corruption. This means that Swiss companies operating abroad need to actively address the issue of corruption.

Against this background, the project analyses the following research questions:

• How often are Swiss companies abroad confronted with corrupt behaviour, and what proportion of their turnover do they spend on average on informal payments and gifts under the table?
• In which business activities are informal payments and gifts under the table typically expected, and which company-specific factors influence the susceptibility to corrupt behaviour?
• What measures do Swiss companies operating abroad take to prevent corruption?
• What do the survey results mean in terms of the benefits and particular challenges of corruption prevention for Swiss companies?

As part of the project, a quantitative survey was conducted with 539 Swiss companies of all sizes and from all sectors that are at an advanced stage of internationalisation. Companies are considered to be at an advanced stage of internationalisation if they generate at least part of their turnover outside of Central and Northern Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore or North America (USA/Canada). Modern methods of empirical social research were used to shed more light on the dark field. The survey was conducted in March and April 2023 in collaboration with the Link market research institute using an online questionnaire in all parts of Switzerland, with participants able to choose between the three languages German, French and Italian. The response rate was 34 per cent, with a confidence interval of ±4.2 at a confidence level of 95 per cent.

The results of the study show that 52 per cent of the Swiss companies surveyed are confronted with demands for informal payments in other countries. Of the companies concerned, 63 per cent make such payments. A further 8 per cent act corruptly indirectly via contracted (local) third parties.

The companies surveyed are already implementing various measures to prevent corruption. Although such measures have increased in recent years, acts of corruption at Swiss companies do not appear to have decreased over the last ten years. This may be due to the fact that the anti-corruption measures in place are still inadequate, that employees are not sufficiently sensitised to the issue or that companies have an excessive appetite for risk. This situation is likely to be further fuelled by the limited number of prosecutions.

Parties involved

The project has been implemented by the Swiss Institute for Entrepeneurship (SIFE), in cooperation with PRME Business Integrity Action Center, Transparency International Switzerland and Link Marketing Services AG.