16. Managing Complexity: The Case of Siemens

Werner von Siemens revolutionized the communication medium of the nineteenth century, and astonished Europe by making communication at an unprecedented speed possible. In his home country, Germany, his company became well renowned due to its successful completion of a telegraph line between Berlin and Frankfurt on the Main in 1849. In comparison to earlier inventors active in the field of telegraphy, Werner von Siemens managed to establish a company based on complex international projects in the modern sense. For this reason, Siemens & Halske, later Siemens AG, is viewed as a business model pioneer in international project business. As will be discussed next, on the one hand, Siemens & Halske benefited from favorable economic and political circumstances; on the other hand, it actively co-created a period of revolutionary changes, through its product innovations and their substantial social and economic implications.