Case Study of Siemens
Case Study10 Siemens’ Simple Structure–Not
There is perhaps no tougher task for an executive than to restructure a European organization. Ask former Siemens CEO Klaus Kleinfeld.
Siemens, with 77 billion Euros in revenue in 2008, some 427,000 employees, and branches in 190 countries, is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. Although the company has long been respected for its engineering prowess, it’s also derided for its sluggishness and mechanistic structure. So when Kleinfeld took over as CEO, he sought to restructure the company along the lines of what Jack Welch did at General Electric. He has tried to make the structure less bureaucratic so decisions are made more quickly. He spun off underperforming businesses. And he simplified the company’s structure.
Kleinfeld’s efforts drew angry protests from employee groups, with constant picket lines outside his corporate offices. One of the challenges of transforming European organizations is the customary active participation of employees in executive decisions. Half the seats on the Seimens board of directors are allocated to labor representatives. Not surprisingly, the labor groups did not react positively to Kleinfeld’s GE-like restructuring efforts. In his efforts to speed those efforts, labor groups alleged, Kleinfeld secretly bankrolled a business-friendly workers’ group to try to undermine Germany’s main industrial union.
Due to this and other allegations, Kleinfeld was forced out in June 2007 and replaced by Peter Löscher. Löscher has found the same tensions between inertia and the need for restructuring. Only a month after becoming CEO, Löscher was faced with a decision whether to spin off the firm’s underperforming 10 billion-Euro auto parts unit, VDO. He had to weigh the forces for stability, which want to protect worker interests, against U.S.-style pressures for financial performance. One of VDO’s possible buyers is a U.S. company, TRW, the controlling interest of
There is perhaps no tougher task for an executive than to restructure a European organization. Ask former Siemens CEO Klaus Kleinfeld.
Siemens, with 77 billion Euros in revenue in 2008, some 427,000 employees, and branches in 190 countries, is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. Although the company has long been respected for its engineering prowess, it’s also derided for its sluggishness and mechanistic structure. So when Kleinfeld took over as CEO, he sought to restructure the company along the lines of what Jack Welch did at General Electric. He has tried to make the structure less bureaucratic so decisions are made more quickly. He spun off underperforming businesses. And he simplified the company’s structure.
Kleinfeld’s efforts drew angry protests from employee groups, with constant picket lines outside his corporate offices. One of the challenges of transforming European organizations is the customary active participation of employees in executive decisions. Half the seats on the Seimens board of directors are allocated to labor representatives. Not surprisingly, the labor groups did not react positively to Kleinfeld’s GE-like restructuring efforts. In his efforts to speed those efforts, labor groups alleged, Kleinfeld secretly bankrolled a business-friendly workers’ group to try to undermine Germany’s main industrial union.
Due to this and other allegations, Kleinfeld was forced out in June 2007 and replaced by Peter Löscher. Löscher has found the same tensions between inertia and the need for restructuring. Only a month after becoming CEO, Löscher was faced with a decision whether to spin off the firm’s underperforming 10 billion-Euro auto parts unit, VDO. He had to weigh the forces for stability, which want to protect worker interests, against U.S.-style pressures for financial performance. One of VDO’s possible buyers is a U.S. company, TRW, the controlling interest of