Siemens 2011 Annual Report Download - page 234

6 A. To our shareholders
23 B. Corporate Governance 51 C. Combined management’s discussion and analysis
52 C. Business and operating environment
80 C. Fiscal  – Financial summary
83 C. Results of operations
101 C. Financial position
114 C. Net assets position
117 C. Overall assessment of the economic position
118 C. Report on post-balance sheet date events
119 C. Report on expected developments and
associated material opportunities and risks
135 C. Information required pursuant to Section  ()
and Section  () of the German Commercial
Code (HGB) and explanatory report

existing opportunities may cease to be relevant, or the signifi-
cance of an opportunity may change. Generally, opportunities
are assessed to the best of our knowledge, considering cer-
tain assumptions, including market development, market po-
tential of technologies or solutions, and anticipated develop-
ments in customer demand or prices, among other things.
When opportunities materialize, they may have a lower effect
than previously estimated on the basis of the underlying as-
sumptions. It is also possible that opportunities we see today
will never materialize.
We see further opportunities in the above-average growth
potential of emerging markets: It is expected that in coming
years emerging markets will continue to grow significantly
faster than industrialized nations, led by particularly strong
growth in the BRIC countries Brazil, Russia, India and China.
Within One Siemens, we want to take measures aimed at con-
tinuously increasing our share of revenue from emerging
markets. We believe that developing the capability to design,
manufacture and sell so-called SMART (simple, maintenance-
friendly, affordable, reliable, and timely to market) products
will provide us with opportunities to gain market share and
enhance our local presence in these strategic growth markets.
Adding further SMART products to our portfolio and develop-
ing stronger sales channels would enable us to increase our
revenues by serving large and fast-growing regional markets,
where customers may consider price more strongly than prod-
uct features when making a purchase decision.
Through selective acquisitions and equity investments we
constantly strive to strengthen our leading technology po-
sition, open up additional potential markets or further de-
velop our product portfolio: We constantly monitor our cur-
rent and future markets for opportunities for strategic acquisi-
tions or equity investments to complement organic growth.
Such acquisitions or equity investments could help us to
strengthen our market position in our existing markets, pro-
vide access to new markets or complement our technological
portfolio in selected areas.
Localizing value chain activities in low cost countries
could further improve our cost position: Localizing certain
value chain activities, such as procurement, manufacturing,
maintenance and service in markets like the BRIC countries
and the Middle East could enable us to reduce costs and to
strengthen our global competitive position, in particular com-
pared to competitors based in countries with a more favorable
cost structure.
We have an opportunity to further grow in the area of en-
vironment and climate protection: Many of the key areas of
our research and development activities focus on products
and solutions capable of strengthening and advancing our
Environmental Portfolio. Our Environmental Portfolio com-
prises products and solutions with outstanding energy effi-
ciency, systems and components for renewable forms of en-
ergy, and environmental technologies for cleaner water and
air. These products and solutions are intended to help our cus-
tomers to reduce their carbon dioxide footprint, cut their en-
ergy costs and improve their profitability through increased
productivity. We believe that public policy initiatives in many
countries will lead to greater demand for such products and
solutions in the years ahead, including from government
stimulus programs. For further information, see C...
Environmental protection.
We are in the process of continuously developing and im-
plementing initiatives to reduce costs, adjust capacities
and streamline our portfolio: Such measures aim at
strengthening our competitive position and realizing cost ad-
vantages. For example, we expect to generate sustainable im-
provements in profitability from our supply chain manage-
ment efforts aimed at optimizing our supply chain manage-
ment, generating associated savings as well as improving the
management of our supplier-related risk. For further informa-
tion regarding our supply chain management, see C...
Supply chain management.
We constantly strive to develop new technologies, new
products and solutions as well as to improve existing
ones: We invest in new technologies that we expect to meet
future demands in accordance with the four strategic mega-
trends demographic change, urbanization, climate change
and globalization (for further information, see C... Global
megatrends.
C.. Legal proceedings
For information regarding legal proceedings, see D. Notes
to Consolidated Financial Statements.