Siemens 2009 Annual Report Download - page 42

40  Introduction  Our world 36 Our company
38 Our profile 40 A pioneer of our time –
Yesterday, today and tomorrow
46 Siemens worldwide –
A network of innovation
www.siemens.com/strategy
Continually tapping new markets with innovative products and
solutions requires the kind of pioneering spirit that has made our
company strong. We’ve always been and always will be a pioneer
of our time, focusing on innovation- and technology-driven growth
markets – markets in which we can capture leading positions and
set new technology trends – while strengthening our local pres-
ence and creating local value worldwide. Because achieving sus-
tainable, profitable growth and outperforming our competitors is
not just our time-tested strategy – it’s also our vision for the future.
A pioneer for over  years
Coupling innovative concepts and visionary ideas with a far-sighted willingness to take entrepreneurial
risks in the interest of achieving enduring success, our company founder put Siemens on track to become
what it is today: a global provider of leading-edge technologies. And it’s this same pioneering spirit – the
spirit that made Werner von Siemens a trailblazer in electrical engineering in his day – that’s enabled our
company to grow and prosper for  years.
In , it was Siemens that implemented the first major project in the history of telecommunications:
a telegraph line between Finland and the Crimea, which transmitted information over a distance of several
thousand kilometers. In , it was Siemens that linked Europe to North America via a transatlantic cable.
And today, it’s Siemens that has supplied the wind turbine for the world’s first floating wind farm, off the
coast of Norway. Since floating turbines can be positioned with little regard to geographic factors, this tru-
ly pioneering project is creating undreamt-of opportunities for exploiting wind power on the high seas.
A pioneer of our time – this is our vision. To realize it, we’re continually rekindling our spirit of innova-
tion to open up new perspectives for our company. Our innovative products and solutions are positioning
us to tap new markets in which we can capture leading positions. This is our longstanding approach and
– particularly when the going gets tough – our obligation. As Werner von Siemens noted back in ,
“In critical situations, decisive and vigorous action is nearly always the best strategy.”
Convincing solutions to tremendous challenges
The global financial and economic crisis poses huge challenges for governments and companies around
the world – challenges that require convincing answers and long-term solutions.
The current crisis didn’t catch us unawares. On the contrary, we’d done our homework and introduced
timely measures that will now enable us not only to get through this difficult period but also to emerge
from it even stronger than before. We began identifying market-specific forward-looking trends and draw-
A pioneer of our time –
Yesterday, today and tomorrow