Submitted By:AngadbirGurpreetGouravIshanGENERAL ELECTRICS CORPORATE STRATEGY

Investors had started losing interest in conglomerates in 1980-1990 due to:Complexity in management.Less understanding of operations.Combination of totally dissimilar businesses in one company.The fall of GE: Capital.Need of flexibility in leadership style.wrong acquisition decisions.

GENERAL ELECTRIC: AMERICAS VENERABLE CONGLOMERATE

LACK OF INTEREST IN CONGLOMERATES

Technical leadershipServicesCustomer focusGlobalizationGrowth platformsCommon finance and human resource processesGEs GROWTH STRATEGY

Lack of focus on the core business.Loss in one business impacts the whole organization.Tough competition from the core players of that market.Example: NBC universal:-A joint venture of GE and Vivendi universal entertainmentConsisted of universal studios and theme parksEven though the business was growing and contributed 10% of the GEs revenue, it was sold to Comcast who bought 51% stake in one deal and bought the rest 49% in another.The revenue from the NBC universal deal was used to stabilize their financial service arm and payback shareholders.

DISSIMILAR AND UNRELATED BUSINESSES

The seventh largest bank and an important financial institution of the USATougher regulatory standards for GE: capitalFailed to meet the wall street expectations in 2008 by 700 million after facing a $ 1bn loss in WMC mortgage business and $1.2 billion loss in Japanese company called LakeFailure of Bear Stearns exposed GEs trick of using GE: capital as a cookie jar to achieve its targets and further dropped the share price of GEInvestors started losing trust in GE and started considering GE: Capital as a risk to their money as well as to General electric.

THE FALL OF GE: CAPITAL

GE faced a hard time during Jeff Immelt period.He was also associated with volatile employment practices.He was also accused of tax evasion.Analysts felt the need of a leader who could motivate employees rather than manage them.

NEED OF FLEXIBILITY IN LEADERSHIP STYLE59.88, 20007.06, 200923.59, 2015

Passion for excellence and hate bureaucracy.Open to ideas and committed to work.Self confidence and unbiased.See change as opportunity, not threat.Stretch, set aggressive goals and reward progress.Organizing Corporate Executive Council Meeting

GEs LEADERSHIP STRATEGY

Acquisition of Kidder, Peabody failed due to difference in the culture and values of two firms.GE sold WMC mortgage business at a loss of $ 1 billion.GE also sold their consumer-lending, Japanese company called lake at a loss of $1.2 billion.

WRONG ACQUISITION DECISIONS.

To recreate the interest of the investors, GE should focus more on streamlining their business.GE should try to cut loose their businesses which are not related to their core business like they are doing with GE: capital, by finally deciding to come out of finance business They should have dedicated managers and executives that boost the morale of the employees.They should avoid taking swift decisions related to mergers and acquisitions and focus on merging or acquiring companies that yield better returns and which would help capitalize their already existing core businesses.

SUGGESTIONS

Despite of being the worlds largest company in the past and worlds sixth largest company at present GE has faced a lot of problems in the past and most of their problems point out to only one solution i.e. streamlining their business and focus more on their core business. On GEs decision of selling their finance business in April 2015 analysts commented The worlds biggest diversified conglomerates are finally realizing that combining entirely dissimilar businesses in one company almost never works. Considering the GEs recent decisions it seems that GE is back on the right track.CONCLUSION