APC 2013 Annual Report Download - page 20

1OVERVIEW OF THE GROUP'S STRATEGY, MARKETS AND BUSINESSES
SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC STRATEGY AND MARKET OPPORTUNITIES
Our strategy 1.3
Capturing the megatrends Leverage the opportunity from new economies
In the past year, Schneider Electric has built on the identified Certain countries in Asia (excluding Japan), Latin America
trends to become the leader of the efficiency economy. (including Mexico), the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe
(including Russia), which we refer to collectively as “new
As a leader in energy management, Schneider Electric is at the economies” have entered a prolonged period of accelerated
forefront of capturing the trends of the new energy world, in development. As a result of the industrialization, urbanization,
particular those affecting its business in a significant way. digitization and development processes that these countries are
Urbanization, digitalization and industrialization are opening new experiencing, we expect the markets of their economies to
market opportunities for Schneider Electric. continue to have a pressing need for the products and solutions
Leverage the world’s new energy challenges
that we provide. Our goal is to leverage this opportunity by
expanding our geographical coverage in these markets, by
increasing our presence in new cities, and further penetrating
The world’s energy challenges are many: growth in energy these markets, with mid-market segment offerings that are
demand, energy price increases, scarcity of natural resources, supported by strong brands with wide local coverage. We have
CO2 emissions reduction requirements, integration of made a meaningful long-term commitment to, and investment in,
unpredictable and intermittent renewable sources of energy, these economies. As of December31, 2013, we had over
increases in peaks of consumption and others. We have 80,000employees in new economies and, during2013, our new
developed a wide range of products and solutions that will economies-based purchasing and manufacturing costs
provide managers of industrial plants, data centers, accounted for approximately 50% of our consolidated costs of
infrastructure, homes and buildings with significant levels of sales. We believe the strength of our brands, our competitive
energy efficiency and savings. Our smart grid solutions help local supply chain and the development of local marketing and
electricity producers and distributors to improve the efficiency of R&D capabilities are our competitive advantages in these
their assets and to offer a better service to their consumers. This economies.
also contributes to the improvement in the operation of the grid
Invest in profitable and responsible growth while
and the reduction in investment in new generation capacity.
Build two complementary business models: driving efficiency
Products and Solutions We believe in the high long-term growth potential of our business
and we continuously invest to drive that growth. This investment
Products and solutions are different and complementary is focused on sustained spending in research and development,
business models and we aim to deliver profitable growth in both. as well as on growing our commercial presence and skills,
In order to reinforce our leadership positions, we continue to especially in the fields of high value-added technologies and
target growth in our products business by creating new services.
opportunities for distributors and direct partners in a win-win In addition to generating strong organic growth, we have
relationship. We are also focused on growing our solutions invested in, companies, joint ventures, strategic alliances and
business by increasing our service revenues and reinforcing mergers that reinforced our global leadership, provided skills
project execution. We have developed reference architectures for geared towards energy management, or related to local
solutions in targeted end-markets in order to facilitate smooth businesses in new economies. Certain of our recent acquisitions
integration of our products and speed up project design and we have been of significant size and scope, such as our purchase of
have a unique software suite to optimize enterprise performance, Telvent in2011 and ArevaD in2010, while other acquisition
StruxureWareTM, providing our customers with full but simple targets have been more modest.
control and management of their operations ,leading to a unique
In addition to the investments we make to foster growth, driving
experience of the complete and efficient solutions of Schneider
efficiency at all levels of our Company is an equally important
Electric.
focus of the Group. We continuously seek to generate savings
Products allow us to continue to achieve scale and pricing power from purchasing and manufacturing and through improving
in our end-markets, while providing differentiation through operational efficiency by reducing selling, general and
technologies that can be combined and integrated. Design is administrative expenses, while maintaining best-in-class
developed to be a key marker of the Group’s identity and create standards in environmental sustainability and social
new competitive advantages. responsibility.
Solutions will allow us to generate additional growth and profits,
lower capital intensity and help reduce cyclicality. They also
provide significant opportunities for dialogue with final end users,
which in turn helps inform our quest for continuous innovation.
18 2013 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC