1. Describe Siemens’ corporate-level strategy and characterize its level of diversification. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the company’s matrix organizational structure. Does the organization’s design effectively support the needs of Siemens’ corporate-level strategy? 

2. Describe how the company structured its top⁺ program. Who was responsible for oversight and coordination of the business excellence initiatives? How does the management innovation activity at Siemens facilitate achievement of the company’s corporate objectives?

3. Using a balanced scorecard framework, outline the financial and strategic organizational controls used by Siemens to drive management behavior and firm performance. Are the corporate criteria balanced? Are they yielding desired outcomes for the company? 

4. Conduct a financial analysis using Siemens’ financial performance results from 1998 to 2007 to assess the effectiveness or success of the top⁺ program. What recommendations would you make to improve either the design or implementation of the company’s management innovation efforts?

The case study explores management innovation at the corporate level at Siemens AG for the ten-year period from 1998 to 2007. Faced with severe capital markets pressure in the late 1990s, Siemens launched its first comprehensive corporate program in July 1998. A critical part of the so-called Ten-Point Program was the top+ program, which exclusively addressed issues of business excellence and management innovation, the adoption of new management ideas, practices, tools, etc. With the revised and more coherent corporate strategy that aimed at vertically and horizontally optimizing the firm's portfolio, Siemens' management was able to add substantial shareholder value over the ten-year period from 1998 to 2007. The case study: (1) highlights the context, evolution, and content of a management innovation program; (2) illustrates how a firm masters the management innovation process, particularly the challenges when dealing with different management innovations and a diverse business portfolio; and (3) provides insights into how a multibusiness firm benefits from a comprehensive management innovation program. This case was written with the support of a Philip Law Scholarship awarded by ecch.