Watches of Switzerland: Evaluating Performance with PESTEL & GDP

This briefing note provides an analysis of Watches of Switzerland, focusing on the challenges and strategic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic within the luxury watch industry. It highlights the company's efforts to adapt through innovative content, partnerships, and communication strategies, including celebrity endorsements and social media engagement, to enhance customer experiences and overall firm performance. The report delves into key issues such as a PESTEL analysis, the impact of GDP, and firm performance benchmarking, discussing political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors affecting the business. Currency and exchange rate fluctuations are also examined for their potential impact on sales and economic uncertainty. Finally, the report emphasizes the importance of maintaining high standards in quality, design, and technology to ensure Watches of Switzerland remains competitive within the luxury watch market. Desklib provides a platform to access similar solved assignments.

Briefing Note

Table of Contents
Contextual background....................................................................................................................3
Key issues-3.....................................................................................................................................3
Global macro environmental discussion point.................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

Contextual background
Every business is looking for ways in which it can adopt the changes caused by COVID-
19 pandemic. In the luxury watch industry, brands are trying to find ways through innovative
contents and partnerships to connect with their customers (Kern, 2017). Some brands are still
struggling to get over the impacts of pandemic, however, some are expecting a sale rebound in
upcoming year. Watches of Switzerland is changing their contents and communication strategies
in order to find new methods to improve their customer experiences and enhance firm's
performance. They have chosen celebrity endorsements and social media strategies the
companies are representing a lifestyle which luxury watch customers desire to attain.
Key issues-3
1. PESTEL analysis
2. GDP
3. Firm performance benchmarking
Global macro environmental discussion point
1. PESTEL analysis Political factors: Political factors which impact the business of Watches of Switzerland
includes political unrest and decline in its sales (Ortega and et.al., 2019). Economic factors: The pandemic has created the situation of global recession which has
reduced the sales of the company. Social factors: Customer's preferences are constantly changing from watches towards
smart watches and wearables which shifted the demand of customers to other companies. Technical factors: Technological changes have caused people to buy things which
involves innovations using internet of things which have reduced the sales of the
products. Environmental factors: The environmental factors which impact the business of Watches
of Switzerland includes environmental and ethical considerations ( W E A R E T H E
L E A D I N G L U X U R Y W A T C H S P E C I A L I S T I N T H E U K
W I T H A S I G N I F I C A N T P R E S E N C E I N T H E U S , 2 0 2 1 ) .
 Legal factors: The legal factors impacting company involves the legal battles between
companies and different legislation of countries.

The directors of Watches of Switzerland should be aware of legislation of countries where the
business operates and its political environment. They should also be aware about the changing
preferences of customers.
2. Currency and exchange rates
Currency and exchange rates also affect organizational business and operations of luxury
watch industry including Watches of Switzerland. The exchange rates and importing costs of the
luxury watches can make it a lot harder for Watches of Switzerland to generate sales. Due to
fluctuations in exchange rates the environment of economic uncertainty in Watches of
Switzerland develops. Many countries have declared that their currencies will float and create a
new currency system (Bernoth and Herwartz, 2021). It indicates that monetary authorities can
select any exchange rates, leading to direct currency interventions.
The directors of Watches of Switzerland should be aware of such fluctuations and make
necessary amendments to limit the impact of currency and exchange rates.
Firm performance benchmarking
In the global competitive environment the companies are benchmark i.e. measures and
ranked as per their quality and performance of the products and services offered. It lays some
standard with whom the company's performance is measured. The benchmarks for Watches of
Switzerland include quality, precision, design, perfect workmanship, luxury and design
combined with technology (Uddin, 2017). As the luxury watches are considered as a symbol for
luxury and status. So the Watches of Switzerland has to maintain its performance in order to
qualify in the best luxury watch companies.
The The directors of Watches of Switzerland should be aware of the factors for benchmarking
which indicates the quality of the watches.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bernoth, K. and Herwartz, H., 2021. Exchange rates, foreign currency exposure and sovereign
risk. Journal of International Money and Finance. p.102454.
Kern, G.A., 2017. Engineering the Intangible: Strategic Success Factors in the Luxury Watch
Industry. In Evolving Business Models (pp. 153-180). Springer, Cham.
Ortega, R.G. and et.al., 2019. Pestel analysis based on neutrosophic cognitive maps and
neutrosophic numbers for the sinos river basin management. Infinite Study.
Uddin, N., 2017. Inter-organizational relational mechanism on firm performance: The case of
Australian agri-food industry supply chain. Industrial Management & Data Systems.
Online references:
W E A R E T H E L E A D I N G L U X U R Y W A T C H S P E C I A L I S T I N T H E
U K W I T H A S I G N I F I C A N T P R E S E N C E I N T H E U S . 2021.
[Online]. Available through <https://www.thewosgroupplc.com/>
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