The Embassy of Switzerland in Vietnam, in cooperation with Alpha Books Joint Stock Co, has launched the book "Swiss Made: the untold story behind Switzerland’s success” in Ho Chi Minh City one month after it was introduced in Hanoi.

The book launching ceremony, organized at Mövenpick Hotel Saigon, was attended by academics, and local entrepreneurs and Swiss-owned business representatives in Vietnam.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Andrej Motyl, Ambassador of Switzerland in Vietnam, said the embassy has supported the publication of the Vietnamese version of the book as it contains valuable lessons for Vietnamese businesses people in the age of global integration.

The author of the book, James Breiding, provides readers with specific research, insightful evaluation of each dominant economic sector in Switzerland, and analyzes the underlying causes that helped Swiss businesses and economy become a success story today.

Attending the ceremony as a keynote speaker, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, director of the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program in HCMC, discussed Swiss experiences in attracting international talents, creating a professional working environment, and other issues raised in the book.

The story about how Nicolas Hayek, a Lebanese, came to Switzerland and helped revive Swatch and put an end to the quartz crisis of the 1980s is a typical example given in the book, he said.

The book also mentioned the underlying causes including an efficient educational system and state management’s mechanism, he added. 

Thanh told Tuoi Tre News that he thought a lesson that state agencies and local firms can learn from the book is the professionalism and discipline in action.

Nguyen Canh Binh, director of Alpha Books, told Tuoi Tre News the firm will continue to publish more books focusing on international successful stories in business and other fields, including 3 books in the first quarter of 2014. They will be the books on David Ben-Gurion, the founding father of the modern state of Israel, Park Jung Hee – who set the foundation for South Korea and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of a modern Turkey.