A strong commitment to the canton of Bern and the Emmental, successful entrepreneurial actions and the targeted promotion of women in a business field that is heavily formed by men: These and other reasons were decisive factors for the University Bern to give CEO Eva Jaisli an honorary doctorate in December 2015.
At the end of January, Eva Jaisli gave an interesting presentation on the topic of «Local positioning as a prerequisite for international success» at the university.
For more than 138 years, PB Swiss Tools has been rooted in the Emmental and successfully conducts international business from its locations in Wasen and Sumiswald. In the early 70s, sales reached the demanding customers in Japan. How was that possible?
Open countryside and happy cows
«The products from the Swiss Emmental have always been 100-percent Swiss-made», Eva Jaisli says. In the land of the rising sun, the image of an nature and society was decisive for the lasting value of our brand products: The cows in the open countryside, the farmers who take care of them – those are the images disseminated about PB Swiss Tools by the tools dealer in his home country. They may correspond to a cliché – but they are effective: «It gives our customer in Tokyo an emotional entry to our brand and the values we represent:: uncompromising Swiss quality.»
Important for the customer in Japan: The image of a rural idyll in the Emmental.
Good stories will be passed on
«Good stories will be passed on», Eva Jaisli explains. «They create an interest and communicate complex interactions in a simple way.» But it is not just the good stories that make our company successful, the core values durability, precision and reliability also serve this purpose. Our mission states that we want to make others successful – and the level of our quality standards underscores it. The swiss origin continues to be rated highly outside of Switzerland and is considered a promise for quality at many locations.
Loyalty in the company as success factor
For 45 years, PB Swiss Tools has been successfully selling products in Japan and for decades in 70 other countries throughout the world. «I am strongly convinced that outstanding entrepreneurial performance in the long term is possible only with mutual loyalty of employers and employees», Eva Jaisli emphasized.
«As an entrepreneur, I am responsible for promoting the participation of the local population and its organizations in the social and economic life with fair hiring conditions, a meaningful corporate culture and the assignment of jobs in the region.» And who brings more motivation along than the people who are connected with the region and, for this reason, want to claim and maintain workplaces and apprenticeships for themselves and their descendants?
In conclusion, Eva Jaisli pointed to the research work of the Geographical Institute of the University Bern concerning «Entrepreneurship in the rural area». It concludes that «rural» entrepreneurs support the rural community and region and demonstrate a lot of commitment when it comes to improving the location as a place of residence and the center of life for their skilled employees.