General Electric Company 1

Running Head: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY

General Electric Company

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

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Table of Contents
Abstract ...............................................................................................................................3

History .................................................................................................................................4

The Company Today............................................................................................................4

Goals and Objectives............................................................................................................5

Strategy …..…………………..............................................................................................5

Geographic Region.............................................................................................................10

Organization …………......................................................................................................11

Quality…………................................................................................................................14

Human Resources...............................................................................................................14

Compensation………………………………….................................................................17

Competition……………………….…………...................................................................18

Financial Summary……….................................................................................................19

Financial Protection............................................................................................................20

Conclusion..........................................................................................................................21

References………… ..........................................................................................................22
 General Electric Company 3

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the General Electric (GE) Company and its operations

on global scale. The company was established over 130 years ago as a conglomerate and

was one of the original 12 corporations listed the Dow and is the only one remaining.

Throughout its history GE has sustained high levels of profitability, employing over

320,000 people in over 100 countries. GE has remained successful throughout is history by

developing strong leadership, expanding through acquisitions and through innovative

research and development programs and has been consistently recognized as one of the

world’s most admired companies. This research will provide information onGE’s business

operations and strategies that have allowed it to grow into one of the largest organizations

in the world.
 General Electric Company 4

GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY

History

The General Electric Company is a multinational conglomerate with employees and

facilities located around the world, manufacturing products from aircraft engines to media

products. Thomas Alvin Edison besides being one of our greatest inventors was also a keen

businessman and is credited with being one of the founders of GE. Edison started and ran

many businesses with the motivation of selling his inventions to the public, and in 1878 he

established the Edison Electric Light Company to support his research to develop an

electric lamp, His goal was to develop light bulb that could be used in homes and to market

electricity to the masses. Edison remarked he wanted “make electricity so cheap that only

the rich would burn candles.” (Tammy, 2007). In less than two years Edison had developed

the first practical incandescent lamp for indoor use. During this period other inventors and

businesses were also working to develop and promote electricity and were directly

competing with Edison for control and advancement of the industry. In 1892, the Edison

Electric Company consolidated with an emerging competitor the Thomas-Houston Electric

Company, dropping Edison’s name and forming the General Electric (GE) Company.

(Edison and GE)

The Company

Today, headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, GE is one of the largest

organizations in the world. It is a conglomerate of businesses operating in over 100

countries with more than 320,000 employee’s world wide. GE has established a reputation

for being able to attract and develop some of the world’s most effective business people to

serve at its helm, including the current Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Jeffery Immelt.
 General Electric Company 5

GE’s has been able to successfully grow throughout its 130 year history because of its

diversified business model and its leadership’s ability to perform and adapt their business

strategy has led the company through nine recessions and one depression. General Electric

was one of the original 12 companies listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is the

only one of the 12 original companies on the Dow remaining today. (Useem, 2004) The

company’s tradition of investing in research and development of new products and

improvement of existing products, have allowed it to continue to maintain a solid

advantage over its competition. As a single entity or conglomerate, GE does not publish a

mission statement, however the CEO does spell out his operating goals and business

objectives in his Annual Report. (GE Annual Report, 2008, pp. 3-6 )

2008 CEO Goals and Objectives

A company’s business goals and objectives provide the statement of what will be

accomplished in both the long and short term. Immelts goals and objectives for GE are to

prepare for tough times, build strong businesses and to sustain a competitive advantage.

Immelt is taking action to prepare for turbulent economic environment. GE is planning to

reduce working capital by about $5 billion over the next two years, freeing up cash to

reinvest in growth and to strengthen the balance sheet. To build a strong business Immelt

has three priorities to expand leadership infrastructure and media, capitalize on GE’s

cyclical advantages by creating value for its customers through efficiency and energy

savings. Sustain a competitive advantage by continuing to invest in initiatives that will

give GE a long term advantage. (GE Annual Report, 2008, pp. 3-6 )
 General Electric Company 6

Strategy

In his Letter to Shareholders, published in the 2008 Annual Report, Jeff Immelt

stated to achieve its organizational objectives, GE will the strategy of “drawing on the key

strengths from the past and making them relevant to the new era of global business.” The

report goes on to state that in order to sustain its competitive advantage, GE needs to be

Global, Drive Innovation, Build Relationships and Leverage Strengths. (GE Annual Report,

pp. 6-8)

1. BE GLOBAL. Our non-U.S. revenues have averaged 13% annual growth this decade.

We expect our global growth to outpace the U.S. in 2009. This is a source of competitive

advantage for GE. We are perfecting an approach called “connected and scalable

localization” whereby we accelerate growth by expanding our local product lines, serving

new customers, and creating strong partnerships with local champions. GE has 25

countries each with more than $1 billion in revenues, so empowering our local teams is

critical to driving growth. Global diversity is important in this cycle because it diversifies

revenues and risk. We expect Healthcare’s diagnostic imaging business to suffer in the

U.S. as our customers grapple with budget cuts. However, we have a $9 billion global
 General Electric Company 7

healthcare business that we expect to experience strong demographic growth, offsetting

weakness in the U.S.

2. DRIVE INNOVATION. We will invest $10 billion in technology and content in 2009,

the same level as 2008. Since 2000, we have invested approximately $50 billion in

product technology. We’ll launch economical “value products” in 2009 such as the 2.6-

megawatt wind turbine, which has high efficiency, more capacity, and lower cost. We’ll

continue to build our innovation pipeline. We launched a venture in digital pathology,

which we think will be a $2 billion market over time. We launched hulu,™ a joint venture

between NBC Universal and News Corp., which is an innovative digital content platform

competing with YouTube.™ We have invested $150 million in battery technology that

will power our hybrid locomotives. We will continue to fund innovation through the

downturn.

3. BUILD RELATIONSHIPS. GE has many ventures and partnerships that help us grow

and diversify risk on a global basis. Our multi-business structure makes us a particularly

desirable partner for governments and other large investors. A great example is our

spectacular success with the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. This event produced $2

billion of revenues across multiple GE platforms, while building our relationships in

China. In 2008, we announced a multifaceted partnership with Mubadala, the commercial

investing arm of Abu Dhabi, which includes a commercial finance joint venture, projects

in renewable energy, and a training center in Abu Dhabi. Mubadala will also become a

“Top 10” GE investor.

4. LEVERAGE STRENGTHS. We have core processes centered on organic growth,

operating excellence, and leadership development. The aim of these processes is to

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spread best practices across the Company. We compare our progress on common metrics

in industrial organic revenue growth, margins, return on total capital, and productivity as

measured by revenue per employee. The chart on this page shows how we compare with

a composite of world-class peers. We continue to perform. In addition, we continue to

invest $1 billion annually in our people and leadership development. We value our team.

We remain committed to developing broad and “battle-tested” global leaders.

(GE Annual Report, pp. 3-8).

Another long term tradition of GE that could be considered a strategy is the continual

development its employees and selecting and attracting high quality CEO’s who are innovative

and forward thinking to lead the company. In most cases, each man selected to lead GE, has been

considered a leading industrialist of his day. Throughout the history of GE, many of those CEO’s

have abandoned the direction of his predecessor and taking GE in a new direction. The advice

that has been passed on from the outgoing CEO to the incoming CEO has been to “Blow it up”

encouraging the new CEO to take risks. During the 1980’s and 1990’s under 20 years of

leadership from Jack Welch, the company had moved heavily into financial services and was

largely into growth by acquisition, buying new businesses and selling those that were not
 General Electric Company 9

performing as well. Welch had expanded the number of GE products and saturated the market,

seeming to producing most everything. During this 20 year period, Welch also increased GE’s

annual revenues from $27 billion to $130 billion and in 1999 Fortune magazine named Jack

Welch the Manager of the Century. (Bianco, 2004)

When the Jeff Immelt took the reins of the company from Jack Welch in 2001 he

followed tradition and changed direction of the company. Immelt focused less on acquisitions

and more on internal growth. He wanted to become better in the business sectors they are

currently in, preferring to have controlled growth and quality service and products, rather than

numerous short term acquisitions for immediate financial gain. Immelt goal is to grow the

company from within through innovation and marketing. From its beginning GE was built on

growing by developing products and creating demand for its products. Owen Young, GE’s 2nd

CEO, introduced electric appliances to give GE a friendly presence in the home. Immelt has cut

General Electrics acquisitions team by two-thirds and revitalized its research and development

centers. Taking risks and changing directions has been a tradition of GE’s leaders and Immelt is

no different and looking to the future of the company he is exploring areas such as

nanotechnology, hydrogen power and advanced propulsion. (Useem, 2004)

Another of Immelts initiatives is GE’s Ecomagination. Ecomagination is a GE

philosophy or commitment to produce energy efficient products. This initiative started in 2005 is

used across all of GE businesses. Jeff Immelt said

"Ecomagination is GE's commitment to address challenges such as the need for cleaner,

more efficient sources of energy, reduced emissions and abundant sources of clean

water." "And we plan to make money doing it. Increasingly for business, 'green' is green.”

Immelt went on to say “Ecomagination is about the future we will focus our unique
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energy, technology, manufacturing and infrastructure capabilities to develop tomorrow's

solutions such as solar energy, hybrid locomotives, fuel cells, lower-emission aircraft

engines, lighter and stronger materials, efficient lighting and water purification

technology.”

"We will establish partnerships with our customers to tackle their most pressing

environmental challenges and double our research spending to develop the products and

services they need," Immelt said. "And we will use these technologies to improve our

own energy efficiency and environmental performance." (GE News Center, 2005)

As environmental awareness and concerns increase throughout the world. The

Ecomagination philosophy will encourage GE to develop “green” products that are demanded

by the public. Ecomagination is involved in researching environmentally cleaner energy such as

wind energy machines, hybrid engines, and solar systems. This new market will become

financially lucrative”Ecomagination Vice President Lorraine Bolsinger told shareholders that

“GE has never had an initiative that has generated better financial returns so quickly.”

(America.Gov, 2007)

Geographic Region

In terms of marketing capitalization, GE has evolved into the tenth largest organizations

in the world. GE employs more than 320,000 people worldwide including over 150,000 people

in the United States. GE also manages one of the world’s most complex supply chains, doing

business with over 500,000 suppliers throughout the world. (Avero) GE operates in every

region of the world, from the Americas and Europe to Africa and Asia Pacific. GE was a major

sponsor of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, earning nearly $2.0 billion in revenue from the event. The
 General Electric Company 11

goal of sponsoring the Olympics was not only the short term profit of providing technological

support to China for the event and the gain of the exclusive production rights for GE’s Media

division NBC Universal, but was interest in developing a solid relationship with a large emerging

market such as Chine whose basic needs have not been met. GE views China as a key long term

market and expects its business in China to double to $10 billion by 2010 as the Chinese

government is expected to begin to focus on developing and improving the nation’s

infrastructure. Overall GE has 12,500 employees in China and in Aug 2008 GE announced it

would move into its new research and development center located in Shanghi, China. The new

complex covers more than 650,000 square feet and will allow GE to conduct actual research-

and-development programs inside China and more firmly entrench the company in the market.

The Research and Development facility is one of four global R&D centers that GE operates, the

three other R&D centers are located in the United States, Germany and India. (Patalon, 2008)

GE has focused on research and development since its beginning, allowing it to drive new

technologies and stay ahead of its competition. In 2007 GE’s R&D budget totaled $6 billion and

with over 2800 employees, of which 1000 were PhD’s. (GE Research, 2009)

Organization

General Electric is a diversified company organized in to five businesses operating

globally. The five operating businesses are 1) Energy Infrastructure, 2) Technology

Infrastructure, 3) GE Capital Finance, 4) NBC Universal, and 5) Consumer & Industrial

Products. These businesses provide a wide range of products and services ranging from aircraft

engines, power generation, water processing, and security technology to medical imaging,

business and consumer financing, media and entertainment content and industrial products.
 General Electric Company 12

(GE Organization Chart, 2009)

1. Energy Infrastructure: GE is a one of the leading supplier of energy and GE’s Energy

Infrastructure operation is engaged in the development, implementation and improvement

of products and energy technologies that harness resources such as coal, oil, gas, and

nuclear energy as well as with renewable energy sources such as water, wind and solar.

GE also offers water treatment solutions for industrial and municipal water systems

including the supply and related services of specialty chemicals, water purification

systems, pumps, valves, filters and fluid handling equipment for improving the

performance of water, wastewater and process systems, including mobile treatment

systems and desalination processes.

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2. Technology Infrastructure provides essential technologies to countries around the

world. The division is involved with healthcare and transportation. They provide

expertise in imaging, diagnostics and patient monitoring systems, as well as working on

disease research and drug discovery. The Transportation branch of the division provides

aviation product and services for aircraft engines and parts for both military and

commercial aircraft. The division also provides equipment for industries related to

railroading, mining and power generation.

3. GE Capital offers a range of financial products across the worldwide from commercial

loans, leases, financial programs, home loans, credit cards, personal loans and other

financial services. The financial division is aimed at commercial business, consumers and

markets worldwide. Additionally GE Capital focuses on developing partnerships and

joint ventures that can help GE as a whole capitalize on specific market opportunities.

4. NBC Universal, the media division, is focused on the development and marketing of

entertainment, news and information to a global audience. The division is involved in

producing film, television, and sports for a global audience. Additionally it works with

new technologies such as the internet ensuring GE is effective in the ways it does.

5. The Consumer and Industrial divisions sells products such as major home appliances

including refrigerators, freezers, ranges, dishwashers, clothes washers and dryers,

microwave ovens and air conditioners. GE brands are GE Monogram(r), GE Profile(tm),

GE(r), Hotpoint(r) and GE Cafe(tm). Consumer & Industrial also provides integrated

electrical equipment and systems used to distribute and protect energy and equipment.

(GE Profile, 2008)

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Quality

GE has been named one of Fortune Magazines Most Admired Companies and in 2009

was rated number one in quality and service. The company has been consistently named in the

top 10 of this list for the past 55 years. In 2009, GE was rated number 1 in its industry category

of Electronics and is number 9 on the list of all companies worldwide. According to Fortune

Magazine, their Most Admired list is “the definitive report card on corporate reputations.”

(Fortune Magazine, 16 Mar 2009) The survey starts with approximately 1,400 companies from

the Fortune 1000, non-U.S. companies in Fortune's Global 500 database with revenues of $10

billion or more, and the top foreign companies operating in the U.S. These companies are then

sorted into one of 64 industry categories. The 15 largest companies from each industrial

category are selected and executives, directors, and analysts, in their own industry category, are

asked to rate the companies on the following nine key attributes of reputation; Innovation,

People management, Use of assets, Social responsibility, Quality of Management, Financial

soundness, long term investments, quality of products and services, global competitiveness.

(Schein, 20 Mar 2009) Q 7)

In the mid 1990’s Jack Welch was told he could improve the quality of GE in every

corner by implementing Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a quality management program first used by

Motorola. Although skeptical Welch began to infuse the program into every corner of GE with

the goal of making GE thousands of times better than his competitors by producing nearly defect

free products and services within four years. Welch wanted GE products and services to be of

such high quality that the only choice for customers would be to use GE. Welch understood that

this quality initiative would improve employee and customer satisfaction as well as increase
 General Electric Company 15

profitability for GE. http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/cs_quality_six-

sigma_ge.html

Human Resources

With more than 300,000 people working at GE, GE considers its employees their greatest

asset. The culture at GE affects the way they go about recruiting, selecting and training their

employees. The diversity of recruitment at General Electric (GE) is "very healthy," reports Steve

Canale, manager of recruiting and staffing services for the global technology, media and

financial-services company. "Our first job is always finding and attracting the best possible

candidates," Canale explains. "Once we meet that standard, we focus on diversity, and it's

working out well. The quality and the numbers are good." (Diversity/Careers Online, 2005)

GE recruits hires approximately 1,000 graduates each year in the U.S. More than half are

from thirty-eight core universities that GE calls its "executive schools. "Of those students that

we hire full time, 60 percent have completed one or more internships or co-ops with us," Canale

says. "Our Early Identification program for interns and co-ops really makes for a very strategic

pipeline. And our selection process for internships at GE is just as rigorous as for full-time

positions." The company has recruited for many years at North Carolina A&T, Tuskegee and the

University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez. It recently added to its recruitment roster the University of

Miami and the University of Texas. (Diversity/Careers Online, 2005)

GE also recruit about 400 former military personnel each year and has been named by

corporate juggernaut is also listed by G.I. Jobs as a “Top Military-Friendly Employer.” When

appearing before Congress last year, Marc Chini, vice president of human resources, GE

Infrastructure, said: “Because of the vast variety of functions within GE, we have had great

success in placing veterans where their particular strengths and interests lie. (Duffie, )
 General Electric Company 16

GE is committed in investing in its employees and spends over one billion dollars annual

on training and maintains a facility in Crotonville, NY for continuing education and recruits

recent graduates for corporate level leadership development programs. Three of the leadership

programs focused on Information Technology and Engineering are Edison Engineering

Development Program (EEDP), the Operations Management Leadership Program (OMLP) and

the Information Management Leadership Program. (Diversity/Careers Online, 2005)

The Edison Engineering Development Program enrolled about 250 new graduates in

2005, and concentrates on design engineering. Participants earn masters degrees through

affiliations with leading universities like Georgia Tech and Purdue University. (Diversity/Careers

Online, 2005)

The Operations Management Leadership Program, which emphasizes industrial

engineering with assignments in manufacturing shop operations, process engineering and

materials management. (Diversity/Careers Online, 2005)

The Information Management Leadership Program offers training in advanced

information technology and systems and strategic applications. (Diversity/Careers Online, 2005)

"Program graduates often continue working in the business where they started," Canale says. "So

if you did EEDP with GE Aircraft Engines, you'd probably stay with Aircraft Engines. But of

course career opportunities always exist for cross-business advancement." (Diversity/Careers

Online, 2005)

GE’s attraction to military personnel is its Junior Officer Leadership Program (JOLP).

This initiative allows former junior military officers to serve three eight-month rotations in

different departments of the company’s Energy division. One rotation might place you in sales
 General Electric Company 17

while another assigns you in manufacturing. JOLP comprises both on-the-job and classroom

training. (Duffie, )

Although entry-level staffers don't normally do much international traveling, they are

often exposed to international teams and business challenges. Those on the upper-management

track are almost certain to see an overseas opportunity as part of their career development. "GE

is truly a global company and so our people have to be global thinkers," Canale says.

(Diversity/Careers Online, 2005)

Jeff Immelt’s employment strategy focus’s on innovation and developing risk takers by

providing the flexibility for employees to make mistakes and grow. This provides a stark contrast

to the previous CEO’s policy where managers who underperformed were fired. (Ref 12, Q 10)

Compensation

The majority of compensation systems in the US are based on an hourly scale in which

employees received fixed hourly rate and may receive periodic pay increases based on

performance. The problem with this system is the expectation that pay will continue to escalate

and the result of this is employees with the same task are paid a different salary based, not

necessarily on performance but rather on longevity and employees after years of service may

become overpaid for what they’re doing. (Pinto, 2005)

Although General Electric was a profitable company when Jack Welch took over as CEO

in 1982, he saw that many people had become comfortable in their positions and resistant to

change and lacked innovation. To resolve this problem, Welch implemented several initiatives

the most significant was a performance matrix. With this new policy, managers are required to

rate their employees and not more than 20 percent of the employees can be rated at the highest

level and up to 70 percent rated as average or meeting expectations and 10 to 15 percent rated at
 General Electric Company 18

the bottom. The top 20 percent are granted significantly larger salary increases and bonus

awards, the middle 70 percent receive adequate pay raises and many at the bottom of the scale

are encouraged to leave and GE goes so far as to say publicly that they are happy to see their

bottom 10 percent join their competitors. This solution not only encourages employees to

increase their performance, it results in approximately a 10 percent annual turnover for the

company and provides a mechanism to infuse new personnel and ideas into the organization.

(Pinto, 2005) (Q11)

Another issue in today’s environment is executive compensation. According to Fortune,

GE has been recognized as America's most admired company several times in the past few

decades. However GE’s compensation philosophy was the salary and bonuses were needed to

attract and retain quality managers. Additionally stock options and stock appreciation rights

were used as incentives for superior long term performance and long term performance awards

were paid to executives who remained with the company with extended periods.

When Jack Welch retired he received a $9 million dollar annual pension package along

with other retirement benefits in excess of $80000 a month which include an apartment, lifetime

use of a company office and access to a corporate aircraft was criticized (Fabrikant, 6 Sep 2002)

When Jeff Immelt became CEO of GE he announced sweeping changes for senior

executive compensation that focused on performance. The stock would only be awarded if

specific performance criteria were met. Long term incentives would based on meeting specific

criteria over time, additionally the executives would be required to hold stock for a specified

time limit. These changes tied executive compensation packages directly to the organization

performance and which was favored by the stockholders and critics. (Krell)
 General Electric Company 19

In 2008 Jeff Immelt declined his bonus and $11 million dollar long term performance

bonus n because the companies stock declined. Other top GE executives also took significant

pay cuts from the previous years. Immelt’s commitment to tie executive compensation to

company performance was a great way to add accountability to job performance and kept its top

executives out of the spotlight, while other companies are being publicly critisized for executive

compensation inspite of poor performance. (Manning, 2009) (Q11 Ref:

Competition

As a Conglomerate, General Electric is number one in market capitalization and total

revenue. However, some of General Electric’s competitors include Citigroup, Philips

Electronics, Siemens, 3M and United Technologies. Although General Electric is the top

competitor in its industry it still has competitors that pose a threat. These threats keep GE’s

leaders and managers constantly looking for new innovations and monitoring their competitors.

(GE Yahoo Finance) Siemens Company is one of GE’s most significant global competitors,

competing with GE in the Industry, Energy, Healthcare and Financial Sectors. GE does maintain

a significant size advantage over Siemens and GE is far more reaching than Siemens industries

which focuses on operating in the Americas and Europe. (Siemens, )

Philips is also a conglomerate competing with GE in primarily the medical systems and

lighting industry. Although Philips has over 121,000 employees in 100 countries GE continues

to have a significant size advantage. (Philips Annual Report, 2008) Philips has moved into some

of the same emerging markets as GE such as China, Russia and Africa. Philips continues to

outsource many of it products and with over 50000 of its employees in low wage countries such

as Mexico, Poland and China. GE has a considerable size advantage over Philips and its other

competitors, however as these other companies expand into new markets, they will pose a threat
 General Electric Company 20

to GE not only in product sales but the competition for the available workforce with cause an

increase in will also be competing for available the work force. (Schwartz, 2007)

Financial Summary

In addition to be one of the world’s most admired companies General Electric is also one

of the largest corporations in the world. GE has a market capitalization of $112.4 dollars over 3

times their nearest competitor. Their total outstanding shares amount to $10.5 billion and the

company’s total assets at the end of 2008 exceeded $797 billion. (GE Yahoo Finance)

GE, like many other companies across the world, has been hurt by the economic

downturn of the past few years. Despite the continued recession, in 2008 GE still had its third

highest earnings in its history earning $18 billion. GE’s overall global revenues grew 13% in

2008, to more than $183 billion and over the past 5 years the profits of GE have been steadily

increasing with an average annual growth rate of 12% per year. Additionally GE’s 5 year

average Gross Profit Margin has been 42.64%, much greater than the industry average of

22.35%. GE’s 5 year average for Operation Margin is 14.22% and similarly the 5 year average

Net Profit Margin for GE is 12.07% twice that of the industry at 6.04% . Overall GE has

performed better than the industry average and the profit have been on the rise. (Rueters GE)

(Q4, Q5)

Financial Protection

Over 50 percent of General Electric revenues are generated from overseas as it conducts

business activities in diverse markets around the world. These international business activities

expose GE to the possibility of losses due to fluctuation in foreign currency exchange rates. One

of the difficulties in managing an international business is effective management of its Financial

 General Electric Company 21

Protection strategies. GE uses methods such as derivatives and hedging to manage against

transaction risks such as interest rates, foreign exchange rates and changed commodity prices.

GE manages these risks using various techniques including issuing debt whose terms correspond

to terms of the funded assets, as well as combinations derivatives that achieve their objectives.

GE addresses its exposure to various commodity price risks with commodity contracts and uses

futures and options contracts along with interest rate swaps, currency swaps, and interest rate and

currency forwards as economic hedges to protect their investments in global operations

conducted in non- U.S. dollar currencies. (GE Annual Report, 2008)

Conclusion

GE has been one of the most successful companies in the world. Originally founded to

develop and market the inventions of Thomas Edison, General Electric has maintained its

innovation and risk taking traditions, which that has resulted in continuous growth and

profitability. GE has become one of the largest and most diversified corporations in the world

and has been listed as Fortune Magazines, Most Admired Company several times in the past few

decades. Competition in today’s world of globalization dictate companies continually improve,

develop, and expand into new markets to increase its sales and workforce. GE’s leadership

recognizes that short term profits are not sufficient that for long term success and that the

company must continue to be innovative and provide services that are beneficial. Its leadership

also recognizes that the employees are its most valuable asset and continually works to develop it

people. It has implemented a culture in which the employees are expected to perform and are

allowed to take risks.

 General Electric Company 22

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