Siemens 2014 Annual Report Download - page 94

Governance
We want to lead Siemens in such a way that we focus on our customers at
all times and further expand our market penetration while maintaining lean
and fl exible structures. That’s why we’ve selected a market-integrative
setup that combines a common regional organization with a coordinated
vertical approach. Against this backdrop, we’ve retailored the structures
and responsibilities of our businesses, our Regions and our corporate
governance functions. Concretely, this means:
Stringent governance also means making sure that our proven method-
ologies for continuously improving performance are rigorously applied
Company- wide in our businesses and projects in the future. In this con-
nection, we’re relying on our well-established top+ program. We’re also
managing our compliance system and Company-wide compliance organi-
zation directly from Company headquarters to ensure that our activities
always fully comply with applicable laws and with our own internal principles
and regulations.
We’ve removed layers from our Company, thus bringing our businesses closer to
customers and key markets. We replaced our 14 Regional Clusters with 30 Lead
Countries. These Countries, which generate more than 85% of our business,
now report directly to our Managing Board.
We’ve also eliminated the Sector level and consolidated our business activities
into nine Divisions and one separately managed unit, Healthcare. This change,
too, is increasing our customer proximity and accelerating our decision-making.
In addition, we’ve made governance even more stringent across all levels of
our organization. Our Managing Board leads the Company and maintains the
balance between our businesses and Regions. It’s supported by strong, effi cient
corporate governance functions, our Corporate Core. This Corporate Core
ensures fast, unbureaucratic decision-making across key Company functions.
 Our strategy