Siemens Ltd., China - Siemens Generation21 - Discovery Box / Education & Training

Background to the casestudy

Initial situation

Nowadays, CSR becomes a vital factor to company image and indirectly influences customers’ loyalty to the company. The Chinese Government considers enterprises not only profit producers but also social responsibilities takers. Therefore, CSR in China is essential for doing business there. The current economy and natural imbalance in China has gradually motivated companies to engage in CSR activities to contribute to the society. For example, the development of healthcare solutions for rural China is of key importance. Since rural healthcare improvement has become one of the top priorities of the Chinese Government, Siemens as a leading global healthcare solution provider, with its strengths and competences in this field lends a helping hand to reach this important goal. Siemens kicked off USD 10 million (7,73 Mio. Euro) rural healthcare project and started its roll-out.

In this project, Siemens will equip the county-level hospital with a full range of appropriate diagnostic imaging equipment – including ultrasound, X-ray and CT. Since medical experience is crucial in the healthcare delivery process, Siemens will meanwhile provide relevant medical and application training to support the education of the physicians in the hospital. Beside that, the company will also install water treatment equipment to prevent health threats to the environment from the hospital's wastewater. With all these contributions, the county-level hospital will be modelled into a Rural Center of Medical Excellence.

Relationship to core business

We use the technique and know-how from our core business and have also volunteerism with our employees, which are indirect from the core business.

Siemens’s early corporate citizenship activities in China can be traced back to the 1930ies, when Mr. John Rabe, then Siemens business representative in Nanjing and Chairman of the Nanjing International Safety Zone, provided humanitarian aid and shelter for over 250,000 Chinese refugees at Siemens’ property in Nanjing during the “Nanjing Massacre”.

Intension of corporate citizenship

Description of the issue

Siemens Generation21

Siemens Discovery Box

Siemens Discovery Box aims to awaken the interest of pre-school children in science and technology. It also supports the teachers by equipping them with material and know-how for this area. or this reason it is an important element of our education program Siemens Generation21 for preschools. The Discovery Box consists of two large wooden boxes on the Siemens topics of Energy & Electricity and Environment & Health. They are full of equipment for carrying out experiments in these areas. The Discovery Box was designed for use in kindergartens and preschools for children aged ca. 3 to 6.

In November 2007, Siemens launched a nationwide Discovery Box roll out program in China. To date, up to a thousand of discovery boxes have been donated to different cities and counties all round China.

Education and Training

On January 10 2008, 40 outstanding students of Beijing Sports University awarded the "Siemens Scholarship Award". The scholarship has a total value of RMB 1 million (112 180 Euro). The "Siemens Scholarship" is designed to support Chinese Sports Education projects. Siemens China believes to encourage and develop the Olympic Spirit of "Faster, Higher and Stronger". The total sponsorship will run over 4 years, there are 40 excellent students who received the scholarship this year.

Under "Siemens Generation21", Siemens Automation and Drive southwest launched its own project named "Light of education". As the first "Light of Education" campaign, they selected Jintang Zhuhao Tuanjie Primary School as the target school. After several visits, Siemens decided to help this school. Since late July 2007, Siemens Automation and Drive Southwest began to repair and renovate the school buildings. They also donated 170 sets of desks and chairs to the school, stationary included bags and pencils to the children.

On Jan 8th, 2008, Siemens and Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU) signed an agreement on overall strategic cooperation. The ceremony not only marks a milestone in the partnership development between Siemens and BJTU, but also demonstrates Siemens' long-term commitment, continuous support and contribution to China’s higher education as well as Chinese railway industry. One major content of the cooperation agreement is "Siemens Railway Scholarship" Program. 20 scholarships of RMB 5 000 (562 Euro) each were presented to students pursuing transportation-related studies at the undergraduate or master level on an annual basis.

On April 17, 2008, Siemens China entered into a Center of Knowledge Interchange Agreement with Tongji University to further enhance the bilateral cooperation in Research and Development. The CKI relationship is the highest level of university cooperation in Siemens. A 5 year framework agreement for R&D collaboration, value at multi-million RMB each year, was jointly signed by Siemens and Tongji University, while Siemens Center of Knowledge Interchange was also unveiled in Tongji University.

Target group

Our target groups for all CSR activates under two of our aforementioned umbrella programs range from people in the poverty-stricken and disaster affected regions, Siemens Stakeholders, society in general as well as employees.

Implementation

Strategy

A strong commitment to good Corporate Citizenship is a core value of Siemens that is based on the recognition that the company’s activities have a wider impact on the society in which it operates, and that developments in society in turn impact the company’s ability to pursue its business successfully. Siemens therefore actively manages the economic, social and environment impact of its activities, and realizes long-term benefits by working with local communities, government organizations and other key stakeholders.

Resources

A variety of Siemens corporate citizenship activities are executed by utilizing the company competitive resources, i.e. the rural healthcare project with a total investment volume of US$ 10 million to provide help to sustainably improve healthcare in rural areas of China; the “Green Village Program” committing at least RMB 3 million (336 200 Euro) to provide safe daily water and energy saving solutions to improve the living conditions in the needy countryside.

Challenges

As a result of the political and social climate of the Chinese society, it has become crucial for multinational companies to become involved in CSR projects in compliance with local government’s CSR initiatives, i.e. Chinese government environmental protection initiatives and energy saving schemes. Therefore, the company has been activity seeking any potential opportunity arisen in this area to tackle the increasingly concerned social and global environmental problems.

Achievement

One example is called Siemens Discovery Box roll out program in China. The box consists of experiment of Siemens topics on Energy & Electricity and Environment & Health, which was designed for use in kindergartens and preschools to awake the interest of preschool children in science and technology, and also supports the teachers by equipping them with material and know-how for this area. To date, thousands of discovery boxes have been donated to different cities and counties all round China.

Lessons learned

Balance of different parties’ interest both internally and externally. I.e. how to consolidate efforts and provide most needed assistance to the needy group. We tried to understand and meet different needs of interest groups.