APC 2014 Annual Report Download - page 34

1OVERVIEW OF THE GROUP’S STRATEGY, MARKETS AND BUSINESSES
ORGANIZATIONAL SIMPLICITY AND EFFICIENCY
Each of the business segment manages its R&D, marketing and a single point of contact for customers, each business segment
sales teams and is responsible for its global results. is responsible for solutions in certain defined end-markets.
Business efforts have focused on implementing and
A number of back-office functions such as finance, Human strengthening existing teams dedicated to meeting the specific
Resources, IT systems and global marketing are handled by the needs of these strategic customer segments with a strong focus
Global Functions, which have a governance role and provide on the collaboration between the business lines, in order to
services internally. ensure these customer’s needs are met as fully as possible.
Rationalization and optimization of synergies
Mutualization: the business is organized around Operational
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Regions: Global Operations, North America and China. These
Regions are split into 17zones with empowered Zone
The organization is deployed in accordance with three key Presidents and Country Presidents, which are appointed in each
concepts: specialization, mutualization and globalization. country to be the custodians of four Business in their countries:
Specialization mainly concerns sales and front-office operations. Industry, Infrastructure, Partner & Buildings and IT, including
Mutualization covers local back-office operations at the country Field Services. In addition, they are responsible to monitor the
and regional level. Globalization concerns the six support full transversal P&L of the country, deploy Schneider Electric’s
functions, now known as Global Functions: strategy in the country (including all local cross-functional topics
such as increasing cross-selling among businesses) and pool
Finance;
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the local back-office resources. These resources are gradually
Marketing;
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brought together in each country or region under the Country
Supply chain;
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President’s supervision and can include multiple local support
Human Resources;
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functions ranging from administration to project execution,
depending on the situation. In addition, the Country President
Strategy;
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serves as the mutualization driving force and Schneider
Information systems.
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Electric’s main representative in the country, most notably in
A substantial portion of the Global Functions’ costs is re-allocated dealings with employees and local officials.
to the businesses using distribution keys or application bases that Globalization: major support functions that are not specific to a
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are generally defined annually. given country or business are gradually globalized to increase
Specialization: in each country, each business has its own
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experience and leverage a significant scale effect around cost
sales force and local leader as soon as it reaches critical mass. and service. Manufacturing and supply chain operations, areas
It also has a specialized front office in each host country to of shared services or expertise (such as finance or Human
respond more effectively to customer demand for specific Resources), information systems, Group Strategy and global
expertise. Each business segment is also responsible for its marketing functions are now included within the Group’s Global
overall results, both for product sales (in its business lines) and Functions. Global Supply Chain is continuing to focus on the
the implementation of solutions (especially for end-market areas of global productivity, customer differentiation and
segments within its scope). As solutions can consist of products customer satisfaction.
coming from different business segments and in order to define
Geographic dimension and legal structure
The Group’s goal is to establish, where ever possible, a single legal structure in each country.
Schneider Electric’s simplified legal organization chart is as follows:
Schneider Electric
Industries SAS Boissière Finance
Operational
companies
Schneider
Electric SE
The list of consolidated companies is provided in note32 to the Finance is the Group’s centralized cash-management structure; it
consolidated financial statements (see page239). Boissière also centralizes hedging operations for all subsidiaries.
32 2014 REGISTRATION DOCUMENT SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC