Siemens 2007 Annual Report Download - page 17

Letter to our Shareholders 17
Focused structure – Clear responsibilities
We’re grouping our operations into three Sectors: Industry, Energy and Healthcare. The Industry Sec-
tor will comprise the businesses of the Groups Automation and Drives (A&D), Industrial Solutions and
Services (I&S), Transportation Systems (TS), Siemens Building Technologies (SBT) and OSRAM. The
Energy Sector will comprise the businesses of the Power Generation Group (PG) and the Power Trans-
mission and Distribution Group (PTD). And the Healthcare Sector will comprise the businesses of the
Medical Solutions Group (Med). The Sectors will be subdivided into Divisions, which, in turn, will be
sub divided into Business Units. Each Division and Business Unit will be headed by a CEO, who has
worldwide responsibility for its business activities.
All three Sectors are already leading suppliers to their markets. Leveraging innovative products, tech-
nologies and solutions, we’ll enable them to continue expanding their market positions worldwide.
Continuing to operate on a cross-unit basis, the Siemens IT Solutions and Services Group (SIS) and the
Siemens Financial Services Group (SFS) will support every Sector while also serving their non-Siemens
customers. Individual members of the Managing Board will have direct responsibility for the three
Sectors, for Siemens’ strategic equity investments and for our cross-Sector units Global Shared Ser-
vices (GSS) and Siemens Real Estate (SRE).
Our proven matrix organization – consisting of global businesses, which have profi t-and-loss respon-
sibility, and Regional Companies, which provide optimal customer support on a local basis – will be
retained. As in the past, the global businesses, which make decisions regarding the nature and loca-
tion of our business activities worldwide, will have a clear “right of way” within the matrix.
With regard to our regional organization, there’ll still be one individual – a Mr. or Ms. Siemens – repre-
senting the Company as a whole in each of the countries in which we’re active. In the new structure,
we’re strengthening the sales responsibility of our Regional Companies and giving them additional
leeway for the benefi t of our customers – for example, by relieving them of a number of administra-
tive functions, particularly in the areas of fi nance and controlling. We’re also bundling more of our
international businesses into cross-border organizations in which larger Regional Companies will sup-
port smaller ones – an approach that has already proven its worth in Latin America and southeastern
and northern Europe.
Portfolio policies – Ambition coupled with vision and discipline
Active portfolio management is a key pillar of our success. In fi scal 2007, we worked intensively to
focus our portfolio on profi table, high-growth fi elds. In every case, our overriding strategic objective
was to capture and maintain No. 1 or No. 2 positions in all our markets. Through our acquisitions,
we’re developing our portfolio with prudence, vision and fi nancial discipline.
Three measures in fi scal 2007 were of major signifi cance for the optimization of our portfolio: the sale
of Siemens VDO Automotive (SV) to Continental AG, the acquisition of Dade Behring Inc. of Deerfi eld,
Illinois (U.S.) and the acquisition of UGS Corp. of Plano, Texas (U.S.).