Siemens brand value unchanged
Siemens AG, the German IT and electronics firm headed by an Austrian, has been knocked down two spots in the ranking of the worlds biggest brands.The company which is headquartered in Munich, Berlin and Erlangen made 49th place in analysis agency Interbrands Best Global Brands 2010 list.Interbrand said today (Fri) Siemens current brand value was 7.315 million US dollars (5.566 million Euros), the same amount as it was rated in 2009.Interbrand, which praises Siemens for its “green efforts”, stressed: “A World Cup sponsor, it landed orders totalling about one billion Euros for infrastructure projects in advance of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.”Beverages giant Coca Cola retained its top spot in the comparative ranking for the 11th consecutive year, while IT firms IBM and Microsoft remained in second and third. Internet services firm Google climbed from seventh to fourth, while Japanese car maker Toyota, now in 11th, dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since 2004.Siemens has been headed by Carinthian Peter Löscher for three years.Löscher said in June signs of a recovery for the European economy were “clearly visible despite the nervousness dominating the international financial markets.”He pointed out that a “stable and transparent” financial economy was needed by the real economy at all times.Siemens opened a new office complex in Vienna last week. Around 6,000 people will work in the Siemens City Vienna in Floridsdorf district. Siemens, which was founded in 1847, said it had invested 150 million Euros in the creation of the facility.Former Austrian Social Democratic (SPÖ) state secretary Brigitte Ederer entered the Siemens board in July after five years as Siemens Austria CEO. She now also heads its European operation and human resources departments.Ex-Porr boss Wolfgang Hesoun was named Ederers successor as head of Siemens Austria.Siemens was able to put all of the 19,000 employees doing part time at various German plants back into full time occupation in July thanks to soaring demand for its products and services.