The Swatch Group
| The Swatch Group | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Headquarters | Biel, Switzerland |
| Area Served | Worldwide |
| Chairman | Nayla Hayek |
| CEO | Nick Hayek, Jr. |
| Products | Watches and jewelry |
| Financial Services | Volkswagen Financial Services AG |
| Market Value | 30,599.7 m$ |
| Employees | 29,788 (2013) |
| Website | www.swatchgroup.com |
Contents
About Swatch
Swatch Group is a diversified multinational holding company active in the manufacture and sale of finished watches, jewelry, watch movements and components. It is the world’s largest watchmaking group, and supplies nearly all the components required for the watches sold by its eighteen individual brands and the multi-brand retail companies Tourbillon and Hour Passion. Its production companies supply movements and components to third-party watchmakers in Switzerland and around the world. Swatch Group is a key player in the manufacture and sale of electronic systems used in watchmaking and other industries. It is also a leader in the field of sports event timing. The Swatch Group can be found worldwide. In countries where the Swatch Group has no actual distribution subsidiary, it is represented by retail dealers who have been approved by the Head Office in Switzerland.
Engagement in Cultural Diplomacy
The company has some long-established and firm relationships with art events and exhibitions. Also several of the Swatch Group’s sub-companies are official timekeepers at a variety of international sports events.
Employment Policy
Swatch Group is one of the foremost employers in Switzerland in terms of providing apprenticeships. It offers a large number of permanent jobs, including to employees who have reached retirement age. The Swatch Group is aware that its performance depends heavily on the quality and commitment of its employees. It needs people who are motivated and effective, and it knows that, in return, it must offer them a social package that makes it a competitive and attractive employer, capable of recruiting and retaining the best personnel worldwide. The working conditions of the Group’s Swiss companies are very largely governed by a collective agreement entered into with the trades unions. The present agreement came into effect on 1 January 2007 for a duration of five years. The Group maintains good relations with the trades unions, in a spirit of openness.
Education
Grants and Scholarships
The Swatch Group Malaysia is offering its scholarship to any Malaysian citizen who is interested in watch-making. The scholarship offers a two-year matriculation course in a partnership with WOSTEP (Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Education Program) and the Nicolas G. Hayek Watchmaking School. The aim of Nicolas G. Hayek Watchmaking School is to train professional watchmakers who will head up customer service for the Swatch Group in the future. Two different WOSTEP (Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Educational Program) training programs are available to our students in order to prepare them for the demands of modern customer service: 3,000-hour Watchmaker's Course in all our six schools as well as in our partner school in Manchester, UK; and 1,800-hour Watch Service Technician's Course as an additional watchmaking training program in our Shanghai and Hong Kong schools.
Notable Activities
Promoting Human and Civil Rights
The Swatch Group is strongly committed in the protection of its employees’ civil rights, especially concerning their working conditions, which are governed by a collective agreement stipulated with the trade unions. This agreement came into force on 1 January 2007 and lasts 5 years.
Activities in the Field of Humanitarian Aid
Longines, a brand of Swatch, is a long-established supporter of the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, and is financing the Steffie Graf’s Children for Tomorrow Foundation. The latter is a non-profit foundation, targeted at proposing and sustaining new projects focused on assisting children and families who are victims of war, persecution and violence.
Supporting Music and Visual Arts
Swatch has built The Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai. Known and unknown artists are invited to stay and work for a period of up to three-six months in one of the 18 studios. They meet to exchange ideas, prepare and enjoy meals together, talk about their work and life in Shanghai, plan new projects and share their visions. The artists are accommodated in the hotel at the invitation of Swatch Group, which for its part asks only that they leave a “trace” of their visit.
In 2011 Swatch sponsored the MTV EMA Awards and MTV playground. Breguet is part of the Swatch Group and together with the Tourbillon boutique in Puerto Banús, they sponsored a charity concert given by well-known Spanish singer, Montserrat Caballé , in support of the not-for-profit organization, The Children for Peace.
Supporting Sports
The main investment of Swatch is at Sporting Events. Investing in sports suits the company’s image, at the same time they can promote their watches for correct timing of some competitions. Also Swatch has different partnerships agreements concerning sport events. A few examples are: Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, RedBullX-fighters, UCI BMX Supercross World Tour, Swatch Free4Style, among other.
