A New Start?

"What we need is a cultural revolution," chairman Peter Löscher told the newspaper Handelsblatt in an interview published Friday, Dec. 21. "It is a job that will take several years."

The 50-year-old Austrian said his first meeting with US Securities and Exchange Commission and US Justice Department officials, earlier this week, had gone well, but he declined to give details. Siemens is under investigation in the United States over allegations of bribery.

He also said the plans to overhaul the company, which he announced in late November, would be carried out quickly, starting on Jan. 2, and that restructuring was already ensuring individual responsibility to prevent corruption.

New structure for today

The new model reorganizes Siemens into three branches -- industrial goods, energy and medical technology -- each with its own chief executive.

"The old structure was for another time, the 1980s," he said. "The chain of responsibility is now clear, which was not the case before."

Löscher was appointed Siemens CEO in July in the midst of a massive investigation into bribery allegations at the top of the industrial concern. Siemens managers reportedly made at least 1.3 billion euros ($1.9 billion) in dubious payments to secure orders in several countries.