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Barclays CEO Energy-Power Conference
Paal Kibsgaard
Prior to 1998, the Schlumberger organizational model was based on standalone, self-
contained product lines with only a small corporate structure at the top. Under this
set-up, each product line handled all aspects of its business separately, including its
technology portfolio, sales and resource management, product and service delivery,
customer engagement, as well as both its R&E and support functions.
The advantage of this silo structure is its simplicity, and the fact that it is similar to the
structures of other standalone players in the market place. However, the limitations of
this structure are also clear. It does not allow us to leverage company-wide scale and
capabilities, or to benefit from information sharing or workflow integration between
product lines.
These limitations were alright when we had only a few product lines, but as this number
continued to grow there was a need to consider alternative models.
