GE's Strategic Intent and DNA

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

* Technical Leadership – Immelt identified technology as a key driver of GE’s future growth and emphasized the need to speed up the diffusion of new technologies within GE and turn the corporate R&D into an intellectual house.

Widely regarded as a leading global corporation in the 20th century with operations in over a hundred and seventy countries and over three hundred thousand workers, General Electric remains an icon in best management practices. With its operations in power, appliances, energy management, aviation, oil & gas, and transportation among others is ranked as among the top leading firms in the US. It is also a global leader in the digital industry with interests in transforming needs into responsive, connected and predictive solutions. With its vast operations, GE is involved in innovation, product development, and funding startups among others (Hydle and Karl 261).

Welch encountered a very difficult situation in 1981; the economy was in a recession, almost one of the worst recessions any organization has witnessed since the Great Depression of 1929.  The strong dollar was losing value and the unemployment rate was at an all time high.  Interest rates were consistently on the incline during the time Welch took over as CEO of GE.  Jack Welch was both a transformational and transactional leader who displayed an aggressive competitive style of leadership.  He did not let the recession deter him from maintaining a competitive advantage over the competition.  His philosophy was to ensure that GE was either #1 or #2

General Electric (GE) is among the most profitable companies and, according to Fortune magazine, the most admired. It stock is the most highly valued in the world. Some critics would argue, if it's not broke, why fix it? Jack Welch, CEO of GE, believes in the "infinite capacity to improve everything." Why does a company that has experienced so much success recently invests over a billion dollars in a quality initiative? Increased competition has GE adopting the attitude that businesses that stand still become obsolete as businesses that continue to grow pass them by. Also by implementing Six Sigma, GE is preparing itself for future profitability

Analysis - GE has likely been so successful over the years because of its ability to foresee major trends and capitalize upon them. In the 1960s, for instance, GE was one of the eight major computer companies. Even recently, since 1986, GE has continued to acquire several organizations; portions of NBC, wind manufacturing, universe pictures, aerospace industries, international firms, software and hardware manufacturing, even oil companies abroad. The company culture describes itself as not one company, but many each unit a vast and complex enterprise in and of itself, with a corporate

GE has been able to build such a strong and loyal customer base by meeting each of the six variables described by Robbins. Variable one, type of employee, is met through GE's efforts to provide a diverse work environment. In fact, GE was named among the top 40 best companies for diversity by Black Enterprise Magazine (Employees, 2007). Variables two and three, low formalization and extension of low formalization, is met through GE's efforts to provide employees the freedom to become closer to their customers while finding new operational efficiencies and ways to work toward customer service (Leadership, 2007). Variable four, good listening skills, is

In the year 1876 Thomas Alva Edison started laboratory in New Jersey that dealt with electrical devices. By 1890 Edison establish a company called Edison General Electric Company. It was at the same time that a competitor established themselves in the market. Thomason-Houston Company started to dominate the market. Soon both the companies found it difficult to rely solely on their patents and technologies. Hence in 1892 both the companies merged and called the company General Electrics.

The company is all about Research and Development when it comes to target market and product mix. A general motor innovates on a large scale. More than half the planes in the world have GE engines. Jet engines are a technical and manufacturing masterpiece. They have invested more than $10 million in R&D over the past decade to serve the military and commercial aviation customers. The new engines are substantially more fuel-efficient than the ones that they are replacing. They track thousands of engine performance parameters while they are in service, and they use that information to improve performance standards. Their ability to execute large-scale innovation is based on GE’s technical depth and scale. The capability is unmatched and creates customer satisfaction, employee pride, and financial performance. There are very few companies on earth who do what General Electric does (Datamonitor pg. 49).

GE current level of diversification is relatively high. Previously, GE had focused on three divisions which are power system, technical products and consumer product. (Barlett, C.A., M. Wozay, 2005) Although GE is one of the worlds most diversified companies, the management sector had been plagued. GE in 1960s had high sales growth but low profit growth. (K.Hall, 1978)

GE was a very successful organization under the immensely charismatic and influential Jack Welch. The period of 1981 to 2001 when he was the CEO saw the company increasing market share rapidly and grew exponentially. This period was a period of increasing environment changes and GE saw Jack Welch as the new CEO. He made a famous speech that the company is a fast growing company is a slow growing economy. We can judge from this that the economy of those days was a very stable one with not many changes in the task environment. There would then be reduced competition and reduced pressure due to changing environments.

GE was founded in 1878. It has grown multi folds since the time of inception. It has been named as “Most Admired Company in Us” and “Most Admired Company in the World”. It has companies in the field of electricity production, electric appliance, lighting, aircraft engines, medical system, and diesel locomotives. GE has 43 independent SBU (Strategic Business Unit). Despite all these variations available there was steadfast growth in the company. The management practices in GE were considered as bellwether of American management practices. This was due to the procedures adopted by Jack Welsh.

We will use General Electric, also known as GE, to illustrate how internal and external factors affect the four functions of management. We will explain how globalization, technology, innovation, diversity, and ethics affect the four functions. We will also explain how delegation can be used to manage the different factors. General Electric has come a long way since its inception in 1876 by Thomas Edison, several of his early business offerings are still a part of General Electric to this day. General Electric has become one of the greatest innovative companies in business

While researching organizational motivation I came upon many articles on General Electric’s (GE) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jack Welch. When Jack Welch became CEO of GE in 1981, he was “the youngest CEO in GE’s history” (When Jack Welch took over); as CEO he set out to reenergize one of America’s largest companies. How would he go about doing it? Jack had an approach with three main areas: Setting goals and preparing the company for its competitive challenges, Empowering employees at all levels of the organization, and Communicating his goals and vision through the entire organization. The goal of this paper is to explain those areas used to motivated GE into becoming

Due to the change in environment and the need to adapt Immelt shifted the focus of GE from cost cutting and deal making to new products, services