APC 2012 Annual Report Download - page 32

2012 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC30
OVERVIEW OF THEGROUP’S STRATEGY, MARKETS AND BUSINESSES
1ORGANISATIONAL SIMPLICITY ANDEFFICIENCY
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5. Organisational simplicity
andefficiency
Schneider Electric’s profi le has undergone an unprecedented transformation in the past decade to become a global
specialist in energy management.
Under the One company program (2009-2011), the organization was redesigned to better serve its customers. This
transformation continues with the launch of Connect, the new company program for2012 to2014
5.1 A customer focused organization
Dual responsibility – technologies and end-
markets
Schneider Electric is organized in fi ve business segments. Each
business segment is responsible for specifi c technologies as well as
targeted end-market segments. This organization was designed in
order to support our two business models: products and solutions.
Selling products requires clear technological leadership, while
selling solutions requires close customer relationships and a deep
understanding of end users’ needs.
•Partner (wich was called Power until December 31, 2012
cf.page 18) b usiness scope covers low voltage and renewable
technologies. The business is in charge of integrated solutions for
the residential and marine end-markets.
•Infrastructure business scope covers medium voltage and grid
automation technologies. The business is in charge of integrated
solutions for the oil&gas and utilities end-markets.
•Industry business scope covers industrial automation, control
and sensors technologies. The business is in charge of
integrated solutions for the OEMs, water treatment and mining,
minerals&metals (“MMM ”) end-markets.
•IT business scope covers critical power and cooling technologies
for data centers. The business is in charge of integrated solutions
for the data centers and fi nancial services end-markets.
•Buildings business covers building automation technologies.
The business is in charge of integrated solutions for hotels,
hospitals, offi ce buildings and retail buildings.
Each of the fi ve business segment manages its R&D, marketing and
sales teams and is responsible for its global results.
A number of back-offi ce functions such as fi nance, human
resources, IT systems and global marketing are handled by the
Global Functions, which have a governance role and provide
services internally.
Rationalization and optimization of synergies
The organization is deployed in accordance with three key concepts:
specialization, mutualization and globalization. Specialization
mainly concerns sales and front-offi ce operations. Mutualization
covers local back-offi ce operations at the country and regional level.
Globalization 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.
•Specialization: in each country, each business has its own sales
force and local leader as soon as it reaches critical mass. It also
has a specialized front offi ce in each host country to respond
more effectively to customer demand for specifi c expertise. Each
business segment is also responsible for its overall results, both
for product sales (in its business lines) and the implementation of
solutions (especially for end-market segments within its scope). As
solutions can consist of products coming from different business
segments and in order to defi ne a single point of contact for
customers, each business segment is responsible for solutions
in certain defi ned end-markets . Over the course of2012, efforts
continued to focus on implementing and strengthening existing
teams dedicated to meeting the specifi c needs of these strategic
customer segments with a strong focus on the collaboration
between the business lines, in order to ensure these customer’s
needs are met as fully as possible.