Siemens is a large German conglomerate that was originally founded in 1847 and had traditionally operated with a bureaucratic and mechanistic organizational structure. However, when Klaus Kleinfeld became CEO, he sought to restructure the company along the lines of Jack Welch's reforms at GE to make decisions faster and spin off underperforming businesses. His restructuring efforts faced significant opposition from labor groups in Germany and he was eventually forced to step down, being replaced by Peter Löscher who had to balance pressures to improve financial performance with protecting worker interests.