Industry Special: 'Secret weapons' see Siemens thrive in 2009

Sales and new orders for Siemens in China in 2009 have continued to show positive growth despite the difficult economic environment. The company's sales revenue has grown by 18 percent compared to the same period in 2008, which has maintained the "double-digit growth" commitment made by Roland Gerke, president and CEO of BSH Home Appliances (China) Co Ltd. Gerke had previously outlined four reasons for Siemens continuing growth during the worldwide economic recession in an earlier interview.

Investment increase

When the global financial crisis occurred during the latter half of 2008, a number of companies opted to curb their investment programs. With Panasonic and Toshiba, for example, the former reduced its investment by nearly $1.5 billion investment in 2009, while the latter decreased its equipment investment to the tune of 540 billion yen (around 6 billion dollars). Against this negative backdrop, Siemens, however, decided to enlarge its investment in China and took a broad strategic overview of its role as one of the world's leading domestic appliance manufacturers.