APC 2014 Annual Report Download - page 19

OVERVIEW OF THE GROUP’S STRATEGY, MARKETS AND BUSINESSES
SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC STRATEGY AND MARKET OPPORTUNITIES
Schneider Electric builds native connectivity in its product offerings, Products allow us to continue to achieve scale and pricing power.
delivers a range of digital services to help customers’ extract value In order to reinforce our leadership position and continue to grow,
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from their data and provides and the best customer experience to we leverage technology to offer connected, market leading
our customers and partners. products and to create new opportunities for distributors and
direct partners in a win-win relationship.
Leverage the opportunity from new economies
Solutions and Services allow us to generate additional growth and
profits, lower capital intensity and help reduce cyclicality. They
provide significant opportunities to develop greater customer
Certain countries in Asia (excluding Japan), Latin America
intimacy and stickiness through dialogue with final end users,
(including Mexico), the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe
which in turn helps inform our quest for continuous innovation. We
(including Russia), which we refer to collectively as «new
have developed reference architectures for solutions in targeted
economies» have entered a prolonged period of accelerated
end-markets in order to facilitate smooth integration of our
development. As a result of the industrialization, urbanization,
products and speed up project design and we have a unique
digitization and development processes that these countries are
software suite to optimize enterprise performance, StruxureWareTM,
experiencing, we expect the markets of their economies to
providing our customers with full but simple control and
continue to have a pressing need for the products and solutions
management of their operations, leading to a unique experience of
that we provide. Our goal is to leverage this opportunity by
the complete and efficient solutions of Schneider Electric.
expanding our geographical coverage in these markets, by
increasing our presence in new cities, and further penetrating these
Invest in profitable and responsible growth while
markets, with mid-market segment offerings that are supported by
strong brands with wide local coverage. We have made a
driving efficiency
meaningful long-term commitment to, and investment in, these
economies. We believe in the high long-term growth potential of our business
As of December31, 2014, we had over 93,395employees in new and we continuously invest to drive that growth. This investment is
economies and, during2014, our new economies-based focused on sustained spending in research and development, as
purchasing and manufacturing costs accounted for approximately well as on growing our commercial presence and skills, especially
53% of our industrial costs. in the fields of high value-added technologies and services.
Schneider Electric currently holds significant presence in new In addition to our commitment to organic growth, we have invested
economies in Asia, Africa, Middle East, Latin America, Eastern in, companies, joint ventures, strategic alliances and mergers that
Europe and Russia (now the 4th market in Schneider Electric). The reinforced our global leadership, provided skills geared towards
decision to split our Executive Committee into three management energy management and automation, or related to local
hubs, a pioneer management decision, allows us to be close to its businesses in new economies. Certain of our recent acquisitions
customers in all markets – remaining local while being global. Our have been of significant size and scope, such as our purchase of
long-term commitment helps us build an intimate knowledge of Invensys in 2014, Telvent in2011 or ArevaD in2010, while other
these markets and we believe that the strength of our brands, our acquisition targets have been more modest.
competitive local supply chain and the development of local In addition to the investments we make to foster growth, driving
marketing and R&D capabilities are our competitive advantages in efficiency at all levels of our Company is an equally important focus
these economies. of the Group. We continuously seek to generate savings from
Build two complementary business models:
purchasing and manufacturing and through improving operational
efficiency by reducing selling, general and administrative expenses,
while maintaining best-in-class standards in environmental
Products, and Solutions
sustainability and social responsibility.
Products and, solutions are different and complementary business
models and we aim to deliver profitable growth in both.
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2014 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC