“There Are Great Opportunities In Turkey”

Peter Löscher is the CEO of the global giant Siemens… Since he was appointed to his post two years ago, he has changed the company from virtually top to bottom. Löscher says that they have accelerated through lean organization and describes what they have done as “evolution not revolution”. We spoke with Siemens CEO Peter Löscher about the restructuring process at Siemens and its new understanding of management. Peter Löscher’s answers to Capital’s questions, in which he also shared his views on leadership, are as follows:

* What have you changed at Siemens since your appointment?
Siemens needed evolution not revolution. We have implemented this evolution. The first thing we did was to consolidate our strategy regarding “mega trends” which are a great legacy of our company. The second was that we focused on the climate, climate change and the green portfolio. Last year our expenditure in this field reached US$19 billion. The third was that we focused on the solutions as regards mega cities. As a result, in the last two years we have built a new organizational structure in these three areas. We have reduced costs. We have found the opportunity to focus more on our customers. In Turkey, I have spent a significant proportion of my time with our customers.

* What are the main basic factors in your new concept of management and organizational?
We have significantly simplified our organization. At the moment we have 50 departments in three main sectors. We have appointed a boss to each business. In addition, we have developed a regional approach. We have assigned responsibilities on a regional basis. In brief, I can say that the most important features of our new concept of management are being closer to the customer, speed and simplicity.

* Hierarchy is a significant problem in very large companies. Have you been able to overcome this?
We have achieved really valuable progress in a very short time. I can say that we have been much more successful than I had foreseen. We achieved very rapid development. This gave us a great advantage in the difficult economic conjuncture in which we find ourselves.

* What are Siemens’s strong values? What is in the company’s DNA?
Our greatest asset is the legacy of innovation we have received from our founders, and leadership in innovation. I can say that another great asset is our corporate social responsibility. We implement all of our corporate social responsibility programmes under the umbrella of the Siemens Foundation. Today this foundation has capital of €400 million.

* What is in the essence of your strategy for Turkey. What are you planning to do?
We recently opened our new production base in Gebze. This is a giant US$100 million investment. We shall continue our investments. We think there are great opportunities in Turkey, particularly in energy. Turkey has an important place in our global organization, not just because of the opportunities it offers but because of its accumulated knowledge. Our production base in Turkey has become a global hub. We export from here to 16 countries.

Hande D. Süzer
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