Sap

SAP was founded in 1972 and today they are recognized as the world's largest inter-enterprise software company. Their products cater to various sectors of industry and every dynamic market. Their diverse software products have placed them as the third largest independent software supplier and their continuing excellence makes them a premier software company. The superb technological advances they have achieved in software have allowed SAP to maintain a high regard of respect from other major corporations in their industry. By implementing user-friendly software programs they have crafted a service and development resource that has allowed these major corporations to create an efficient supply chain and increase customer relations in their respective fields of business.

To date SAP currently employs over 29,600 personnel in their facilities which span out over 50 countries. SAP can be found in Europe, the America's, and Asia. Their main headquarters is in Walldorf, Germany close to the building where the company was first started. Although, SAP has grown in mass proportion since their beginning, they never left their grassroots. The pride in their home country speaks volumes that they never left to create this premier software company.

Although the company has been around for thirty plus years the company still exhibits an enormous desire to maintain their presence for another three decades. SAP has taken advantage of their financial growth and since 1996 has started investing in companies that share the same desire for innovation in technology. The name of this department is appropriately called SAP Ventures. Composed of five investment professionals, they seek out to build businesses to create a shareholder value for everyone involved. The process of which company to choose is extremely selective, but the premise is the same in that they are seeking companies that are emerging in technology.

SAP has grown in mass proportions, since their beginnings, into a world-class international software company. Currently the company reigns as the top leader in inter-enterprise business solutions in the global market arena. Their state-of-the-art applications have set the standard as a software conglomerate.

The company began as a dream of five former employees of IBM. They recognized the need for a real time business processing software and after a year of collaborating their

first financial accounting software was finalized. This milestone was merely the seed needed to cultivate a flourishing enterprise that specializes in technological support for businesses.

The 1980's allowed the company to branch out and establish a strong foundation for their budding organization. The first corporate building was occupied in an industrial park in Walldorf, Germany. This allowed greater opportunities for the group by ensuring that all of their resources were strategically located under one roof. The end of the decade saw the company being nationally recognized by a renowned business journal and their apparent success was overflowing past the borders of Germany and reaching into the neighboring country of Austria.

Steam rolling into the 90's with their SAP R/3 application, this client-server concept enabled a businesses the ability to run on computers from different vendors. This was a break through in the enterprise software business. To date, this type of software is the standard. With the 25th anniversary of the company in 1997, SAP began to strengthen their focus on more industry specific solutions.

The new millennium donned the age of the internet and the need for personal software applications became nearly instantaneously infectious. The development of mySAP suite allowed the individual user to customize a set of applications that is relevant to their initiatives. It was becoming evident to the researchers and developers at SAP that the wave of the future for software applications would be spearheaded by customization.

SAP's corporate governance strictly adheres to the German system of governance. The basis for the structure divides the management and supervisory facets of the company into two separate divisions, he Executive and the Supervisory Boards. There is also a general shareholders organization that has been created as per the German Stock Corporation Act.

The Executive Board members are appointed by the Supervisory Board and are allowed to remain on the board for a maximum of five years. They serve as the governing body of the SAP Corporation and are subject to the stock corporation laws. The mission of the Executive Board is to provide detailed reports on all business issues, strategy, and risk to the Supervisory Board. The Executive Board is also tasked with creating an Extended Management Board that serves as resident advisors for each of the major business areas in the company. The members of the Extended Management Board also attend the Executive Board meetings.

The amount of members in the Supervisory Board is dependent on the size of the company. They are required to provide needed information to the Executive Board and monitor their progress.

More than twelve million users operate each day using SAP solutions. SAP embodies 69,700 installations throughout the world and is affiliated with 1,500 partners. Some of the partners affiliated with SAP include Accenture, Siemens Business Services, IBM, DELL, Novell, Hewlett-Packard, and UNISYS. The professionals employed at SAP are steadfast at providing a customer support and service that is beyond comparison. There is a distinct understanding that the process begins with the satisfaction of the customer and through this initiative they are able to ensure a long standing business relationship with their customers. This has become apparent throughout the years as they continued to build their clientele. Their business solutions have paved the way making them the leading vendor in e-business. The quality and professionalism fostered at SAP has

given the company a positive reputation. This has made SAP the software company of choice for managers seeking to streamline their businesses.

SAP can be currently found on the Frankfurt and New York Stock Exchanges. Their symbol can be identified as "SAP," respectively. The company's net income in 2003 reached beyond the levels as the years before as SAP reached a new corporate record. With their net income reported as Ђ1.1 billion and their total revenue as Ђ7.0 billion, SAP continues set the bar for their competitors.

The beginning of 2004 brought with it a change in the list of competitors