Centre for Innovation Research Seminar: Where lies the future after the end of banking secrecy? Geographies of entrepreneurial storytelling and alternative future-making in Switzerland

Abstract:

This study integrates insights from cultural entrepreneurship in management research with concepts of story-based regional industrial development and future-making from economic geography to elucidate the rise of the blockchain industry in Zug, Switzerland. Blockchain technology, known for its dual nature of promises and perils, has garnered significant attention. The inception of the blockchain industry in Zug is set against the backdrop of the demise of banking secrecy in the Swiss banking sector and the ensuing concerns about the potential decline in attractiveness of the Swiss financial industry—a sector crucial to the nation's economy—to global capital. Drawing on the sociology of place, we present a longitudinal study that examines how international blockchain pioneer entrepreneurs utilize Switzerland's multi-faceted institutional conditions (neutrality, political decentralization, political stability) to underpin their business propositions. We specifically identify and analyze five distinct place-based narratives crafted by these entrepreneurs over time, which have been instrumental in legitimizing the controversial blockchain industry.