General Electric Case Study: Strategy, Resources, and Capabilities

This case study examines General Electric (GE), a global industrial company, focusing on its strategic approach, resources, and capabilities. The report analyzes GE's diverse product and service offerings, including power generation, aviation, and healthcare, and discusses the company's strategic objectives under CEO Jeff Immelt. The main body delves into GE's strategy, emphasizing its mission to innovate and its vision to lead in the industrial sector. It highlights the importance of technology and customer focus for value creation, supported by a SWOT analysis outlining strengths like balanced revenue streams and weaknesses such as fluctuating stock prices. The study explores opportunities in technological advancements, corporate social responsibility, and emerging economies, while acknowledging threats like political factors and competition. Furthermore, the report assesses GE's resources and capabilities, including its skilled workforce, innovative leadership style, and operational management approaches like Six Sigma, and emphasizes the importance of customer care and international expansion for success in the changing business environment. The analysis considers both internal and external factors affecting GE, including political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal aspects. The study concludes by providing a comprehensive overview of GE's strategic position and its ability to compete in the dynamic global market.

General Electric Case Study

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
General electronic is a global industrial company which deals with various kinds of
product and services like aircraft engine, power generation and oil and gas production equipment
to medical imaging, financing and industrial products, security technology, consumer financing,
media content etc. It is a technological and financial service kind of organisation which operates
through the eight segments that is power, water, oil, gas, energy management, aviation,
healthcare, transportation, appliances and lighting (Leitner, Meissner and Martyna-David, 2015).
General electronic is launched in 2005 by the CEO Jeff Immelt who is person focused on the
strategy to develop tomorrow solutions such as solar energy, hybrid locomotives, fuel cells,
lower emission air craft engine etc. The following report provided the depth knowledge and
understanding about the strategy of generic electronic and new strategy necessitated for the
organisation changes. In addition to this, requirement of the 21 century business environment
and its resources and capability has discussed in this report.
MAIN BODY
In an organisation, strategy is one of the most important aspect by which company can
compete with rival in the market. In the absence of effective planning, tactics and strategy, no
business enterprise can survive in the competitive market. In a simple word it can be said that
strategy is about giving an organisation purpose and direction which assist in maintaining the
performance of business in the competitive business environment. In the context of General
electronic, it is a global industrial company and which deals with various kinds of product and
services like aircraft engine, power generation and oil and gas production equipment to medical
imaging, financing and industrial products, security technology, consumer financing, media
content etc (Kernbach, Eppler and Bresciani, 2015). Its CEO has considered the on effective and
competitive strategy for gain the effective success in the market. General electronic is major
objective is to develop the high quality and innovative product and services which aids in
meeting the customer expectation. Its mission is to usher in the next industrial era and to build
move, power and cure the world. It wanted to innovative and creative work in the company by
which they can earn the maximum customer attraction and market share. Its vision is to consider
on the businesses through which it can develop its core competencies. It another vision is to be
the market leader in the world. General electronic main strategy is to reshape its company
portfolio by its innovative and creative idea and wanted to become the industrial leader of the
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conglomerate. Company have reshaped the portfolio from a broad conglomerate which can
focused infrastructure leader and took important steps in that pivot last year. The company is
believed in imagine, build, solve and lead by deliver the extra advanced product and services to
its customers. In order to deliver an effective customer satisfaction , it considers new business
platform such as renewable energy, security solution, healthcare and international expansion.
These all strategy of the GE has been successfully implemented in the company. In order to
value creation in the market, GE focused on the technology and customer focus(Amran, Ooi and
Devi, 2015). In the context of technology, they invested the large amount of capital to bring the
high innovative and latest technology With help of technology they believe that new product and
services can produced in the innovative manner. GE has choosen the technology for value
creation because he believes that with help of technology, company can design some innovative
and creative invention which assists in improving brand image in the market. On the other hand
in the context of customer focus, they conduct market analyse to obtain the customer
preferences, taste and choice so as they can able deliver effective customer satisfaction. GE
believes that customer is a kind of market through which any company can gain effective
profitability. That is why he focused on the customer value and delivers high quality product and
services according to the demand of customers.
Following are SWOT analysis of the General Electronic organisation
 Strength- Its major strength is its well balanced revenue stream among the various
sectors which aids in overcome the business risk in the market. General electronic
company's product and services are used in the 160 companies and it is hailed as one of
the most innovative, green and best place of work. It has high quality machinery, staff,
office and equipment which assist in improving the standard of the organisation (Staake,
Thiesse and Fleisch, 2012). It has high market share and international operation. Its
another strength is its strong research and development function by which it aids in
developing the high quality and innovative product and services in the market.
 Weakness- Company have major weakness is its low stock prices due to the financial
downturn. Fluctuation in the fuel prices and energy sector is another major weakness of
the cited venture. It is a electronic company which directly affected by the changes in
the natural resources like fuel, gas, energy etc (Doeksen and Symes, 2015). In addition to
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this fluctuation in the prices of oil ans gas have mostly been caused by supply shortage
and this is threatened for the organisation revenue
 Opportunity- Technological changes can give the opportunity to general electric to
bolster future success. In addition to this, involvement in the corporate social
responsibility is another major opportunity of the cited organisation. Furthermore, merger
and joint venture with other electric organisation is another important opportunity for the
company by which it can gain the effective success and market share. Moreover,
emerging economies gives a huge scope which assists company for its business
expansion. Threats- Political factor is one major threat for the general electronic organisation
because strict governmental policies and environmental regulatory norm can affect the
operation. In addition to this enhancement of the information technology security may
create the issue for the cited venture. Continuous changing in the currencies and
economic recessions can influence global business. Extra competition and new
competitors are entering the market which could unsteady general electronic and it is the
major threat for the company.
Resources and capabilities
General electronic company have high skilled and qualified staff member whose gives
their best contribution in developing the strategic position of the company in the market. Immelet
motivational and democratic leadership style implemented has successfully reshaped the
leadership culture into an innovative culture within the general electronic organisation. He used
his innovative and creative ideas in the business expansion and use the democratic leadership
style for lead the member of staff.In addition to this, in this organisation, high quality of training
and development programs has organised for the employees so as they can gain the opportunity
for developing their personality and contribute in the business for gain the success (Wesseling,
Niesten and Hekkert, 2015). Organisation structure has also maintained in an effective manner.
There are rigorous decentralization of the corporation structure within the general electronic.
Immelt has designed the organisation result oriented structure so as every one should delegate
about their responsibility and attain the organisation objective. This strategy facilitates in getting
closer to the business structure process. In the context of the innovation and creativity, Immelt
has also contributed in effective manner in the business as general electronic uses various
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operation management approaches such as six sigmas, lean counter, lean production, total
quality management and bottom line driven for the organisation quality and successes. With
assistance of these methods, owner of the GE has put the various most innovative approaches for
improve the quality and potentiality of the work in the company. In order to improve the quality
and innovativeness in the company, various operation ma management approaches used in the
company is another major strategy of the organisation for compete in the marker in an effective
manner. In addition to this one another major capability of the general electronic company is its
customer care services. GE is major focused on the customer oriented programs deployments
(Mathur, Mathur and Kenyon, 2012). The customer focus initiatives started from the welch, era
in 1980 workout which major concentration on the productivity, improvement in the operation,
overcome the wastage and develop the healthy relationship with customers. The continuously
invest in the technology and improve its operational management by use of approaches, GE
enable to develop the more qualitative and innovation product and services. This strategic
consider creates differentiation advantage by producing innovative good and services and
increase customer focus. The major reason behind the success of the GE in the industrial root
that is renewable energy, security solution, health care and international expansion. Cited venture
has focused on the strategy of renewable energy through which it saves the natural products in
the production and manufacturing process. In addition to this, it used the effective operation
management approaches through which wastage and cost of the product and services can easily
decreased (Jaber and et.al., 2015). In addition to this company has effectively used the security
solution for its employees and customer. In the context of employees, it organised a safe and
effective working condition where proper facilities and protection for employees through which
uncertain accident can not occur. Furthermore, in the respect of customer, GE focused on the
effective strategy through which customer can not any harm. One of the major reason behind the
success of GE is its international expansion strategy. Company have used the global strategy for
business expansion through which it has gained success in the various countries about to sale its
product and services.
In order to compete in the changing and high competitive business environment, General
electronic have to analyse its business environment which consist with some of the internal and
external components. External analysis of the General electronic are as follows-
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 Political- In the international market, General electronic company have faced various
rules, regulation, code of conduct and legislation related to the business. Some countries
have effective political system by which business organisation may beneficial.
Governmental intervention in the US is minimal while in other countries such as china,
Japan etc.
 Economical- This factor includes the countries' inflation, recession, inflation in the
prices, interact rate etc. While any General electronic company operates its business in
the market then it has affected by the economical condition (Mitchell and et.al., 2016).
 Social and cultural- This factor is related to the customer choice, preferences, taste,
culture, region, value etc. General electronic is a multinational corporation and it has
adapted various country determine the working hour, employment policies, procedure
for appointing manager and the type of goods to be produced. In order to meet the
expectation of the customers in the market, company required to identify the taste,
culture, value of the customer. GE have effectively full fill the requirement and demand
of the customer in the market because of the market research and research and
development tool. With help of research and development company analyse the actual
requirement of customer and deliver the product and services accordingly.
 Technological- General electronic is an electronic organisation so it is largely affected by
the technological component in the business environment. It has to adopt the technology
according to the new development. This factor is largely affected to the operation of
business of general electronic. It rates of technological; advancement varies with each
country in which GE has invested in depending on the amount of resources available.
Immelt have used the latest technology and equipments in order to produced the high
quality of product and services.
 Environmental- This factor included natural resources such as weather, climate, energy,
water, solar and nuclear power. As environment change then it have to change and
operate its business accordingly. This factor is also affect the business in the large context
because general electronics various business activities and operation is based on the
natural resources such fuel, power, energy, gas etc (Gonzalez-Padron, Hult and Ferrell,
2016).
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 Legal- This factor includes the governmental rules, regulation, business law etc which
can applied on the employees, customer and business. General electronic have to follow
this aspect at the time of business operation.
 Global competition- This is another major effective factor which can affect the ge in the
international level. At the international level, there are huge level of competition among
the corporations. However, there is opportunity to expand the business but it is very
difficult for the company to face large competition at this level. In order to face this
factor, company should conduct analysis of market so as it can identify the rival and
develop strategy accordingly. In addition to this research and development is another
essential strategy to create some innovation and creativity at the international level so as
cited venture can face the high level of competition.
 Growth of the industries- This is another major environmental challenges of the GE
because it is multinational brand and which operate in the international environment.
Growth of the industries is major challenge in the market for cited venture. In order to
cope up with this challenge company should consider on the research and development
program so as it can meet the actual needs of customer by develop innovative and
creative products.
As per the above discussion it has been ascertained that there are very huge changes in the global
business environment where large number of competition among the industries. GE have
effectively faced the high global competition in the global market by use of the effective
business strategy and marketing strategy. However, there are wide scope of the growth
opportunities because there are huge population and scope of development. With help of
excellent marketing strategy, company can cope up with changes in the competitive business
environment at international level.
As it has addressed that there are several challenges related to the business environment
has faced by the GE's that are political, social, cultural, environmental, technological etc. In
order to face these challenges in the country, effective analysis of the business environment is
one of the strategy which assist to the GE in cope up according to the marketIn this strategy, GE
should analyse all relevant component and its impact on the business operation. With help of
business environment analysis, company can able to know the available competitors and their
strategies (Doeksen and Symes, 2015). In addition to this, it can also assess the impact of several
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environment factors upon the business. Through this strategy it can develop suitable strategy and
design effective action which can take in future to face this challenges.
Cooperative strategy of GE
Division of the GE headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and united states. It has 82000 employees
and its divided into the major three part that is GE energy management, GE oil and gas, GE
power and water. It is an electronic engineering company based in franse and its key
components are motors and generators, variable speed drive, automation and process control.
The major advantage of the general electronic is adds products to GE portfolio, expansion into
the marine and mining industry, edge over competitors.
Retrenchment strategy
GE plastics divestment to Saudi basic industry's corporation. In this strategy, GE plastic
will sell its plastic division to Saudi Arabia. The major reason for GE to sell plastic division is its
high cost of raw material and reducing sales and profit margin, high competition, environmental
obligation, changing business line.
Due to the changes made in the business environment and the requirement to adopt immelt
shifted the focus of GE from the cost cutting and deal with making to new products , services .
He considered on redirecting the strategy of GE with help of organic growth, customer focus and
innovation. Immelt committed GE to an organic growth rate of 8% per year. Immet used the
latest and high level technology by which he succeeded in producing the high quality of product
and services. New technologies were seen as essential ingredient for design a successful product
innovation and quality improvement. These strategic changers have largely impacted on the
divisional structure into the smaller number of the broader business sector. With help of this
changing strategy cited venture able to deliver the bundling of product and services. This assist
in improving the profitability and productivity of company.
As per the above discussion it has been analysed that there are several changes and
strategies which can implement in the GE to improve its business performance at the global
level. In this manner, research and development, market and business analysis, innovation and
invention is best was to become the successful business of GE.
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CONCLUSION
From this project report it has been concluded that Business strategy is essential aspect in
the business entity by which it can able to develop its won competitive advantage In the absence
of effective planning, tactics and strategy, Company can not start and run in the competitive
marketplace. General electronic is one of the famous electronic comoany which delivers high
quality of equipment and technical item.From this report it has been concluded that Immelt has
also contributed in effective manner in the business as general electronic uses various operation
management approaches such as six sigma, , bean counter, lean production, total quality
management and bottom line driven for the organisation quality and successes.
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Illustration 1: GE performance
Source:Shi, 2016

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