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General Electric

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Can GE Remake Itself as a Digital Firm? General Electric (GE) is the world 's largest diversified manufacturer. Fortune named GE "America 's Most Admired Company" in 1998, 1999, and 2000. Jack Welch, GE 's CEO and Chairman since 1981, is often cited as the most admired CEO in the United States. Headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, the company consists of 20 units, including Appliances, Broadcasting (NBC), Capital, Medical Systems, and Transportation Systems. With the acquisition of Honeywell, announced in October 2000, GE became a company of $155 billion in revenue and 460,000 employees in 100 countries. Despite GE 's size and old-economy businesses, Internet Week awarded GE its e-Business company of 2000. Did GE …show more content…

Reiner ordered GE units to "come back with alternative approaches that enhance value to the customer and reduce total costs." The Internet initiative started by changing GE 's culture at the very top. GE 's internal newsletters and many of Welch 's memos became available only online. To give blue-collar workers access to the Net, GE installed computer kiosks on factory floors. One thousand top managers and executives, including Welch (who also had to take typing lessons), were assigned young, skilled mentors to work with them three-to-four hours per week to make them comfortable with the Web. They had to become able to evaluate their competitors ' Web sites and to use the Web in other beneficial ways. Every GE employee was given training. Welch announced in 2000, that GE would reduce administrative expenses by 30-to-50 percent (around $10 billion) within 18 months through use of the Internet. Many projects came out of the initiative. For example GE Medical Systems, which manufactures diagnostic imaging systems such as CAT scanners and mammography equipment, identified its DYB threat as aggregators, such as WebMD, which offered unbiased information on competing products as well as selling them. GE products on these sites looked like just another commodity. The unit 's major response was iCenter,

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