The Leader - July/August 2008 - (Page 91)

c a r eer d evel opMeNt by jennie lazarus christian costabel Big risks, Big challenges seIMeNs’ chrIstIaN costaBel NavIgated through chINa For Christian Costabel, Senior Vice President and CFO of Siemens Building Technologies China, Corporate Real Estate (CRE) is truly a global profession. With a career that began in Germany in the field of electro-installation products, which then took him to Eastern Europe where he came into contact with the real estate business for the first time, he now finds his career firmly planted in China with Siemens Corporate Real Estate. “There were two events which brought me to the place I am in currently,” says Costabel as he explains his career path. “In 1990, when starting my professional career in Siemens following a 2-year commercial apprenticeship, I had the chance to support the setup of new sales channels for Siemens electro installation material in the newly opened eastern parts of Germany. “ This was followed by a move a couple of years later to Eastern Europe (Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic) to set up similar sales channels there. At the time, he dealt mostly with general contractors, so this experience gave him his first real contact with the real estate business. “It was also my first experience in quick moving and developing economies,” Costabel further explains. The second event was the move to China in 1999 to take over the Internal Audit Department of Siemens in China. As China is a developing economy, Costabel’s earlier experience paid off for him. He says, “I immediately fell in love with China and the environment China offers to work and live in.” So, in 2004 when Costabel had the opportunity to return to the CRE business by taking over the Corporate Real Estate Unit of Siemens in China, he didn’t hesitate. CRE is changing dramatically, especially in Asia. “Especially China is driven by quickly changing markets, combined with large challenges and risks for CRE,” Costabel says of working in this environment. “It is crucial to have CRE working in close connection with the occupiers / end users in one’s country. It is not sufficient to align the corporate strategy with the real estate strategy only once in awhile, but it has to be done frequently in order to keep the pace of the development. This comes along with the importance of setting up a network of qualified partners on the market to tackle the speed of the market and to be most flexible to all changes coming along. Speed and reliability are the essence for corporate real estate providers in China.” Costabel credits CoreNet Global to a large degree with helping to make his job easier in this complicated and quickchanging environment. He says the organization “offers a unique platform for exchanging ideas and experienced amongst members of the industries reaching from fellow CRE providers, to service providers and developers / investors.” He also praises the MCR program in Asia and the lectures and programs that Siemens provides in development of the program content. He adds, “We have also experienced the advantages of the program by sending in participants – we recognize the value of the content and its high usability in the day-to-day business.” In discussing his career, Costabel concludes, “At the end I was lucky enough to always get the job I desired most to have – an advantage a large corporation can give you.” And it is this corporation that has sent him to a country with big opportunities and big risks, a country he loves — China. I was lucky enough to always get the job I desired most to have – an advantage a large corporation can give you. the le ade r 91 J u ly / a u g u s t

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Leader - July/August 2008

The Leader - July/August 2008 Leadership Contents Message from the CEO Real Estate in the News Organizational Design Accommodating Growth Responding to the Challenge EMEA's Building Energy Rating TVA's Shortcut to Success ANZ Banking Group’s Jane Hamilton Tractus Asia’s Dennis Messeroll Arizona’s Greg Weiner Workplace Design Workplace Directory The Texas Report Industry Tracker Discovery Forum Findings Career Development Congratulations to 2008 Corenet Global Award Winners! Young Leader Economic Development in the News Connect with Corenet Global A Look Ahead

The Leader - July/August 2008

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