Case; Ge Growth

Analyzing GE’s corporate-level strategy from 2001 – present with Jeff Immelt as CEO, GE focuses on the growth and development platforms. Technology is the key driving force for GE’s future and growth. Advancements in industries such as energy, health and aviation fueled demand for cleaner and more efficient energy production. GE identified new markets with potential high-growth that offered attractive returns through strategic mergers and acquisitions. As CEO, Jeff Immelt established a process for identifying projects that offered attractive growth potential which were then nurtured and treated as special projects or initiatives that were not subject to strict budget constraints. Immelt introduced GE’s three strategic imperatives as: (1) sustaining its strong business model, (2) strengthening the business portfolio, and (3) driving its growth initiatives. www.ge.com

1. Identify the key factors responsible for the success of Gordon Biersch to date. What concerns, if any, do you have as the company looks ahead?

3. What is your evaluation of the company’s internationalization strategy under Tony Massaro’s leadership? Is it likely to be more successful that the previous offshore initiatives? If so, why?

considerable understatement, Immelt said, “This was not a great year to be a rookie CEO.”1

Q : 2 Is Immelt betting on the right things to drive growth in GE ? Can he hope to change a company whose growth was driven by acquisitions and productivity improvement into an organic growth company dependent on innovation, entrepreneurship and risk taking particularly in such a large complex performance driven corporation?

Since its forming the General Electric Company known as “GE”, has become one of the world’s most powerful and inventive companies to exist. “Electric lighting, power transmission, medical equipment, and transportation were all areas in which Edison held patents and had formed small companies, and are all areas in which this conglomerate today has large holdings” (Wisegeek.com, 2015). It still is today the number seventh on Forbes list of the world’s biggest companies (Forbes, 2015). This can be

In late June when General Electric Company Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt announced that GE would

3. GE is a diversified, multinational conglomerate and we believe that HR policies need to be fine tuned to reflect this. There is a high risk of churn associated with the talent pool of employees at GE and as Immelt we would have the following recommendations:

Soon after taking charge, Welch set the standard for each business to become the #1 or #2 competitor in its industry—or to disengage. Asked whether this simple notion represented GE’s strategy, Welch responded, “You can’t set an overall theme or a single strategy for a corporation as broad as GE.” By 1983, however, Welch had elaborated this general “#1 or #2” objective into a “three circle concept” of his vision for GE. (See Exhibit 2.)

One weaknesses of General Electric is the size of the company. It is a challenging task to manage a conglomerate. General Electric’s main business units are GE Aviation, GE Capital, GE Corporate, GE Energy Management, GE Appliances and Lighting, GE Healthcare, GE Power & Water, GE Oil & Gas, and Transportation. As you can see that is a wide variety of businesses. They all have their individual strengths and weaknesses also, but Jeff Immelt the CEO has to manage it as one giant company as General Electric.

3. State two SMART goals for GM based on the case. Are these goals attainable? Discuss.

General Electric is a well-known company in many regions of the world, but what people aren’t particularly aware of are the steps that General Electric has taken to get to where it is at today. When I think of General Electric the first thing that comes to mind is the role that the company plays in the production of household appliances, but General Electric is a much bigger contributor to people’s lives than is most people realize. People aren’t familiar with the internal business decisions that General Electric makes to ensure that the company continues to grow and run as smoothly as possible, allowing the company to continue to provide people with the services that they have grown to recognize as being a trademark of General Electric.

General Electric (GE) was founded in 1892 from the merger of Thomas Edison’s Electric Light Company with the Thomas Houston Company. Their business was based upon exploiting Edison’s patents relating to electricity generation and distribution, light bulbs, and electric motors. In 2005 and 2006 GE was Fortune’s “Most Admired Company.” Now it is an advanced technology, services and finance company dedicated to innovation in energy, health, transportation and infrastructure. GE operates in more than 100 countries. GE has had a few major keys to its success over the years, most notably its management style, massive size, ability to constantly adapt, and major acquisitions over the years. Throughout the 20th century, they have not only been

The company has blasted off from the beginning, and that can only happen with a strong staff to support the company from the inside out. Currently, GE has it’s headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut. Jeff Immelt is the current CEO, and has held that position since 2001. Immelt has been involved in the company much longer than that, though. He’s held positions in GE’s Plastics, Appliances,and Healthcare divisions since 1982. However, his power has a negative side to go along with the positive. GE’s stock has gone down nearly 60% since 2001, when Immelt become the CEO. This dramatic change can be blamed on fluctuations in the economy, but that’s not where it stops. General Electric has lost 19,000 employees, and also closed 31 plants in America. Immelt has been criticized for all of this, and even especially so because he was the chairman on President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. The company has 18 other corporate executives, to head fields like Financial Planning, Investor Communications, and Global Research. Their 19 business executives head the different departments of GE: Lighting, Transportation, Asset Management, Power and Water, Oil and Gas, International Capital, Retail Finance, Aviation, Energy Management, GE:Africa, GE:Greater China, GE:America, Healthcare, Home & Business Solutions, and Real Estate and Capital

At the heart of Immelt’s growth strategy for General Electric’s was the development of new Growth Platforms, which could be either extensions of the existing businesses or entire new commercial areas. Even though Immelts core focus was on organic growth, repositioning to take advantage of the emerging market trends and opportunities would require acquisition. Then once a new Growth Platform was identified, GE would build a leading position in those sectors through small strategic acquisitions and the deployment of its financial, technical and managerial resources.