How would you describe the entrepreneurial tradition of Pac Team Group?
Alain Borle Pac Team Group was founded in 1949 by my aunt, who was ahead of her time. I inherited her entrepreneurial genes and also internalized her philosophy: If you want to change the world, start by making your bed every day. Discipline is certainly one of the basic requirements for long-term entrepreneurial success, but it also takes a certain passion.
Alain Borle, as CEO you make a lot of decisions. What decisions do you find the most challenging?
Borle The most difficult decisions have been when we’ve had to lay off employees. For example, during the pandemic, we were forced to restructure and this had implications for some of our staff.
«For me, entrepreneurship primarily means independence.»
Alain Borle
What’s the secret of your long-term success?
Borle We’ve managed to make the switch from a traditional family business to a modern company with around 350 employees and yet preserve the friendly feel of a small company with flat hierarchies. Three things that have remained unchanged down the years are our flexibility, our availability, and our ability to work under pressure throughout the entire process. If a customer decides they want to change everything and start over, that’s always an option. That also explains why customers always come to us when they have a complicated project.
What do you do differently or better than your competitors?
Borle The strength of Pac Team Group lies in the fact that we have flat hierarchies and that allows for fast decision-making. And someone is always available, be it during summer vacation season or during the pandemic, so our customers always immediately have a decision-maker on hand.
Where do you see the biggest challenges for your company and what do you do to win over your customers?
Borle The biggest challenges are material procurement and logistics because we’re expanding our production capacities in Europe. It’s our goal to reduce our dependency on China, not least in terms of our CO2 footprint.
What does entrepreneurship mean for you?
Borle For me, entrepreneurship primarily means independence. That’s something that we’ve also passed on to our branch offices, which have a lot of flexibility to act as they see fit.
What’s the next big move for your company?
Borle Setting up the Pac Team Middle East division. We’re going to open a new branch office in Qatar. I’ll be going to the Middle East for six months to oversee the project. This proves once again that made in Switzerland is a seal of quality.
Pac Team SA
Number of employees: 350 across 8 sites
Founded in: 1949
Headquarters: Cugy (Canton of Vaud)
Scope of activities: Enhancement of luxury goods
pacteam-group.com