APC 2010 Annual Report Download - page 37

DESCRIPTION OFTHEGROUP, ANDITSSTRATEGY, MARKETS ANDBUSINESSES
1
ORGANISATIONAL SIMPLICITY ANDEFFICIENCY
Rationalisation and optimisation of synergies
The organisation is deployed in accordance with three key concepts:
specialisation, mutualisation and globalisation. Specialisation
mainly concerns sales and front-offi ce operations. Mutualisation
mainly covers local back-offi ce operations at the country and
regional level. Globalisation concerns the six support functions,
now known as Global Functions:
•Finance;
•Marketing;
•Supply chain;
•Human resources;
•Strategy & Innovation;
•Information systems.
A substantial portion of the Global Functions’ costs is re-allocated
to the businesses using distribution keys or application bases that
are generally defi ned annually.
•Specialisation: in each country, each business has its own sales
force and local leader as soon as it reaches critical mass. It also
has a specialised front offi ce in each host country to respond
more effectively to customer demand for specifi c expertise. Each
business is also responsible for its overall results, both for product
sales (in its business lines) and the implementation of solutions
(especially for end-customer segments within its scope).
•Mutualisation: a country President is appointed in each country
to oversee the Power business (and therefore, of its income
statement), deployment of Schneider Electric’s strategy in the
country (including all local cross-functional issues such as
increasing cross-selling among businesses) and pooling of local
back-offi ce resources. These resources are gradually brought
together in each country or region under the country President’s
supervision and can include multiple local support functions
ranging from administration to project execution, depending
on the situation. In addition, the country President serves as
Schneider Electric’s main representative in the country, notably in
dealings with employees and local offi cials.
•Globalisation: major support functions that are not specifi c to
a given country or business are gradually globalised to increase
experience and leverage a signifi cant scale effect. Manufacturing
and supply chain operations, areas of shared services or expertise
(such as fi nance or human resources), information systems and
certain marketing functions (e.g. web services) are now included
within the Group’s Global Functions.
Geographic dimension and legal structure
The Group’s goal is to establish, and where possible, a single legal
structure in each country.
4. 2 A more modular approach to information systems
Schneider Electric’s simplifi ed legal organisation chart is as follows:
Schneider Electric
Industries SAS Boissière Finance
Operational
companies
Schneider
Electric SA
The list of consolidated companies is provided in note32 to the consolidated fi nancial statements (page 209 et seq.).
Boissière Finance is the Group’s centralised cash-management structure; it also centralises hedging operations for all subsidiaries.
In 2010 Schneider Electric continued with the redesign of its IT
strategy, in order to gradually roll out a common model aimed at
simplifying and standardising operations. This model is developing
towards a more open architecture, capable of deploying faster and
less inter-dependent IT platforms to allow for easier upgrades at a
lower cost.
Four platforms are being rolled out for employee management,
customer relations, back-offi ce functions and R&D support systems.
2010 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC 35