If IBM’s doing it, it must be OK: Siemens AG has announced a sweeping corporate restructuring programme to clear away some of the layers of dead wood from top management and decentralise control closer to the sharp end. The aim of the programme, which will take at least another year to complete, is to transfer responsibility from the company’s five central corporate divisions to the firm’s operating groups, thereby reducing the size of the central divisions. The number of operating groups will be increased to as many as 15 or 16 from the present seven, and, following IBM’s lead, more than 1,000 employees in the corporate divisions will be transferred to existing or new operating groups – but there is a commitment to make no lay-offs. The scope of the three corporate divisions at the Munich headquarters – business administration, research and technology, and personnel – will be significantly scaled back, with sales and marketing going altogether and being absorbed elsewhere. But a new corporate division, productions and logistics, is being created. The changes are expected to affect a total of 9,000 headquarters employees.
