Siemens 2010 Annual Report Download - page 44

14 Foundation 4 Introduction 26 Structure
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to boost our growth worldwide by supplying prod-
ucts, solutions and services tailored to the booming
entry-level market segments.
Another way to strengthen long-term customer
partnerships is to foster local entrepreneurship
within our own organization. As a result, we’re giv-
ing our regional organizations the freedom they
need to make decisions on their own. We’re also ex-
panding their responsibilities for product manage-
ment, development, procurement and manufactur-
ing. Our SOMATOM Spirit business (see also pages
32-39), which we operate directly in China rather
than in Europe or the U.S., is a prime example of
this new approach. Designed for entry-level mar-
kets, the easy-to-use SOMATOM Spirit scanner of-
fers basic CT features at a competitive price. Ninety
percent of the system’s components are sourced
from the Chinese market. Each unit is completely
assembled in China. And most of the development
work was done in Shanghai. Feedback from our cus-
tomers in the emerging markets is also expanding
our employees’ expertise in product features and
cost optimization, with long-range advantages for
the development of solutions for the higher-end
price segments as well.
We want to engender enduring brand loyalty in the
emerging markets. That’s why we’re going to great
lengths to establish local service networks. By pro-
viding outstanding local services, we’re aiming
to achieve the kind of long-lasting customer satis-
faction that makes us the first choice for follow-on
investment. It’s not only our sales organization that
nurtures close relationships with our customers
and fosters their loyalty; above all, it’s our local ser-
vice employees, who – in some instances building
on relationships that go back decades – have de-
tailed knowledge of our customers’ needs. And this
indispensable knowledge sets us apart from many
of our competitors. Our highly diversified service of-
ferings are a key growth driver. Making major con-
tributions to our profitability, they’re a reliable
source of high-margin revenue – and they’re less
capital-intensive than other types of business.
What’s more, because long-term agreements are
the rule, services are less vulnerable to business
cycles. We’re making investments worldwide in or-
der to further exploit the enormous potential of our
service offerings. And we’re also constantly expand-
ing our portfolio of innovative services and the re-
lated leading-edge technologies.
As products become increasingly standardized,
we’re convinced that services are a key strategic fac-
tor that will give us a competitive edge. Services can
optimize a customer’s installed base and ensure its
smooth operation – a prospect that’s particularly
appealing to our customers during periods of eco-
nomic turbulence. The services we provide bring us
close to our customers – across entire product life-
cycles. And that’s an important reason why we’re
During a recent visit to our plant in Tianjin,
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was highly impressed by
our world-class products and production processes.
He called Siemens a Chinese company.