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Question: General Electric (NYSE: GE), headquartered in Boston, is one … Post a question
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General Electric (NYSE: GE), headquartered in Boston, is one of

the most storied and successful Enter question
corporations in American history.
They have roots all the way back to Thomas Edison and his invention
of
the incandescent light bulb, when they purchased his company,
Edison General, in 1892. General Electric
can be found all across
homes, consumer products markets, and business-to-business
transactions around
the world; they are involved in providing
everything from refrigerators to wind turbines to financial
services
and banking. As impressive as their history is, GE must
constantly adapt and change their business to stay Continue to post
alive.
20 questions remaining
The Change Process
Jeff Immelt, the Chief Executive Officer of GE from 2000 until
2017, saw huge success and huge failure,
and he found ways to help
General Electric adapt to the world around it. The text speaks
about internal
and external forces, which are forces from inside
and outside a company, respectively, that demand action. Snap a photo from your
GE, with
Immelt in the corner office, saw much of both. For example, the
2008 financial crisis did not leave phone to post a question
GE unscathed: their stock price
in 2007 was $40, and by 2009 it was below $10. It makes it
difficult for a We'll send you a one-time download
large conglomeration of companies like General
Electric to function effectively when their share price is so link
low
and equity markets are ineffective for raising capital to continue
growth and operations, but this
external force led to positive
organizational change. According to Jeff Immelt, “The changes that
took
place in the world from 2001, when I assumed the company’s
leadership, to 2017 are too numerous to 888-888-8888 Text me
mention. The task of the
CEO has never been as difficult as it is today.” And he is right:
when the internet
came around, and with it a technology boom,
General Electric could have easily been left in the dust as an
old
industrial corporation. To adapt, GE has become an innovator in
technology, began investing in many By providing your phone number, you agree to receive a one-tim
automated text message with a link to get the app. Standard
new businesses, and redesigned
old ones. messaging rates may apply.

Immelt, when looking back on his time as CEO and discussing the
change-making process, remarks, “It’s
the leader’s job to connect
the dots for everyone in the organization.” This is a tough task,
but an important
one. The text mentions resistance to change: a
very common phenomenon where employees or managers
refuse to
embrace change; sometimes they do not want to learn a new method,
or they simply do not My Textbook Solutions
believe there is a need for a change. Part of
connecting the dots, as Immelt puts it, is “to get people in your
organization to see the need for change as existential.” All future
managers should be aware of that fact—
that without their full
dedication and leadership, they will never get their team to get on
board with serious
organizational change.
GE Transformations
There is no way for a company to survive a hundred years, or
even ten, without undergoing some changes
in their identity or
services. There are three elements of Lewin’s Basic Change model,
and General Electric Discrete... Discrete... Microelectr...
has become familiar with the one in the
middle: transformation. This occurs when managers accept the
7th Edition 6th Edition 4th Edition
need
for change, and begin the difficult process of implementation; this
involves important things, like
making sure employees are aligned
with the transformation. For example, GE started a branch named GE View all solutions
Capital as far back as 1932, and it has grown into a very large
financial services operator and financier. The
management found,
though, that their company had gone astray with too many
subsidiaries involved in
their essential business offerings, so
they defined their core business as industrial businesses and
technology. After defining the change, they spent years reframing
GE Capital and many other business
units to put an emphasis on
supporting the core industrial activities.
GE has done a few more things to promote a transformation in the
2000s. They doubled investment in
research and development
(R&D) in order to ensure they are at the front of the pack in
the technology they
manufacture; a longstanding company can be
disrupted by a start-up on any day unless they transform
and
innovate constantly. Changes like that require convincing:
management has to agree to spend the
money, the funds have to be
found somewhere, and new teams of employees must be created and
work
well together. GE also transformed into a global company, and
they have operations in over 180 countries.
This, too, is part of
their core mission to add value in the digital age and stay ahead
of disruptors and
external forces.
General Electric: Still an Open Case
Charles Dow created the still-famous Dow Jones Industrial index
out of twelve companies in 1896, and GE
was the only original
member still standing up until 2018. Their removal after such a
long stay on the list of
companies used to measure the health of
the American market is only one of General Electric’s new
problems
and largely occurred in response to their recent poor performance
in some areas. They have the
biggest pension deficit of any company
on Standard and Poor’s 500 index, meaning that they have
outstanding debt to their employees of over $28 billion. They have
had to make cuts to their dividends, the
money they pay
shareholders quarterly, and they will have to raise capital and
sell off business units until
they can manage both problems, and
return to their historic profitability.
GE has seen times worse than these, and they have learned to
adapt all throughout the 21st century. The
open case now is whether
they will change, transform, and fix their problems like they have
in the past.
Case Questions

1. Name two transformations that GE has undergone since the turn

of the century.
2. What is an external force? Describe one which GE had to react
to.
 3. Why is GE an open case?

Expert Answer

Usha Rani answered this

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679 answers

1. Over the years GE has taken up a lot of transformations. Two

of them are:

a. Increased Investment in Research and

Development: The fast paced technology
can bring the mightiest
organizations down. A new start-up could
launch a potentially disrupting technology causing the company
to
lose its market altogether. The company is now trying to bring in
the change by committing money for
the development of advanced
technology in the products they manufacture such as 3D printed
parts.

b. Transforming itself into a truly

global company: To diversify the risk and to attain
synergy in its value
chain it is always important to have presence
in larger number of markets. To stay ahead of its competitors
and
to benefit from synergy, the company has increased its global
presence in more than 180
countries.The company also decided to
focus on core business which is industrial business and technology
and reframe the rest of the businesses.

2. External forces are the factors that effect an organization

and which are beyond one's control. These
factors can be majorly
organized in 6 broad groups. Political factors, economic factors,
social factors,
technological factors, legal factors, economic
factors. These factors are beyond organization's control and
they
can effect any company/any industry. The way the leadership reacts
to these factors makes the
difference between success and
failure.

The major external factor which effected GE and it had to

respond is technological in nature. The company
with such long
history, had to start investing more in R and D to become innovator
in technology. Post
2000, with the advent of Internet, technolgy
changed completely. New businesses based on technology
which did
not exist prior, started booming. GE took an opportunity and
innovated itself with latest
technology and started investing in
new business processes also.

3. GE is still an open case. Because it is again caught in a

low. Post 2018, it has been removed from Dow
Jones Industrial
Index. It has accumulated more than 28 billion dollars in due as
pension to be paid to
employees. They are cutting off dividends and
planning to sell off businesses to receive capital. This is
again a
test of time as to whether the company can again transform itself
like it did so many times in past
and survive in future or it will
fall? It will all depend on the right decision made by the
leadership and
hence an open case.
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