According to recent surveys, transparency has become a key issue in
business decisions. Foreign firms increasingly view transparent economic policies as
crucial in their investment planning. Evidence has sh own that clear and pre-
dictable environments play an important role in companies’ decisions to develop
their activities in a specific place. Nowadays, place branding scholars and practi-
tioners alike call for more transparency and responsibility in branding strategies,
assuming that trust, enhanced by transparency, is needed to improve the attrac-
tiveness of a place. In a study by a major consulting firm, investors in Switzerland
specifically mentioned stability and transparency as the most important location
factors. However, the country scores poorly in terms of financial transparency. This
paradox reveals a degree of confusion about the nature of transparency, which is
addressed in this article. We argue that, while transparency of the regulatory
framework can effectively improve the attractiveness of a place, opacity of legal
requirements may also attract foreign investors. In this sense, transparency of and
required by the rule s can be at odds. A nuanced approach to transparency and a
more detailed analysis are needed to provide a clearer explanation of the relationship
between transparency and the attractiveness of a place.