Siemens 2010 Annual Report Download - page 131

113 Report on post-balance sheet date events
114 Report on expected developments and associated
material opportunities and risks
128 Information required pursuant to § () and
§ () HGB and explanatory report
133 Information required pursuant to § () and
§ () no.  HGB and explanatory report
135 Compensation and declaration pursuant to §a HGB
135 Additional information for supplemental
financial measures
138 Siemens AG (Discussion on basis of HGB)
147 Consolidated Financial Statements
261 Additional information

activities is compliance with applicable laws and internal rules
and regulations. For additional information regarding our Com-
pliance Program, see “– Sustainability – Compliance.”
An important driver of customer orientation at Siemens is our
Executive Relations Program which focuses on our large
customers. It is our way of establishing and shaping long-term
relationships with our customers’ executives. We have estab-
lished this program on a Managing Board level: all members of
our Managing Board keep in direct contact with key customers,
and thereby maintain a constant dialogue with them as well as
personally listen to their needs. In addition, this program was
introduced on a country level involving senior management
representatives from our Regional Companies.
Building long-lasting and customer-focused strategic partner-
ships is important for Siemens as our portfolio primarily fo-
cuses on capital goods and related services, often with long
lifecycles. We therefore have a structured Key Account Man-
agement approach in place that allows a tailor-made set-up
fitting our customers’ size and regional structure. Our Regional
Account Managers are responsible for our customers in certain
countries or regions, across our businesses. Our Global Ac-
count Managers are responsible for our worldwide business
activities with customers of specific Divisions. Finally, our
Corporate Account Managers are responsible for our large
customers with business activities across several geographical
regions and more than one Siemens Division.
To steer the Key Account Management activities for large cus-
tomers and to develop market opportunities for Siemens, we
have established Market Development Boards for specific
markets that are of strategic relevance for more than one of
our Divisions. The Market Development Boards aim to create
synergetic effects by combining the interests and resources of
these Divisions and by developing and implementing a coordi-
nated market presence for Siemens. This approach enables us
to provide customers with a comprehensive spectrum of prod-
ucts, solutions and services across all our businesses from a
single source, helping them to address their most prominent
challenges. Thus, we believe to be able to significantly en-
hance our competitive position because we can better under-
stand the needs of these markets and can deliver specific solu-
tions drawn from the entire Siemens portfolio, and by utilizing
our global competencies and resources. We regularly review
the strategic importance of the different market opportunities
for our Company. As a consequence, we have recently estab-
lished new Market Development Boards for cities, power utili-
ties and data centers.
To guarantee the high quality and continuous improvement of
our customer support, we have developed our Account Man-
agement Excellence Program and our Sales Management
Excellence Program . Strength-and-weakness analyses as well
as training and qualification measures are carried out under
these programs aiming to ensure consistently high standards
in our worldwide customer relations management.
Ultimately, our success depends on the satisfaction of our
customers. In order to measure their approval, further strength-
en our customer focus and monitor how our relations are de-
veloping, we introduced the Net Promoter Score as a uniform,
company-wide standard. This internationally recognized and
conventional indicator, which measures how likely our cus-
tomers are to recommend us, is based on surveys conducted
worldwide once a year. In fiscal , the survey drew on more
than , interviews. The results of the survey enable
Siemens to benchmark internally on a Division and regional
level as well as externally, and to identify areas for improve-
ment. Follow-up activities on the Corporate and Sector levels
were started immediately after the completion of the 
survey, and we are closely monitoring progress with specific
activities.
SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability at Siemens
Siemens has defined sustainability to mean acting responsibly
on behalf of future generations to achieve economic, environ-
mental and social progress. We have made the three dimen-
sions of sustainable development – the environmental, the
business and the social dimension – the cornerstone of our
activities. In the environmental dimension, we are providing
innovative products and solutions to improve both our own
ecobalance and that of our customers and suppliers. In the
business dimension, we are focusing on long-term value cre-
ation, as presented in other sections of this Combined manage-
ment’s discussion and analysis, including “– Value chain – Re-
search and development.” And in the social dimension, we are
fostering the development of our own employees and striving
to be good corporate citizens in all the communities in which
we are active.