1 (a)
One of the major reasons why GE continued to face difficulties irrespective of the sufficiency of the strategies used is the fact that there was no total inclusion of all stakeholders in decision-making. Core competencies are critical in the provision of accessing new markets, adding value to the products of the company making it rather difficult for them to duplicate the competitors. Welch had a clear recognition of the fact that GE’s best asset was the human capital therein. Important strategic steps in empowering and capacitating line management as well as employees were the main delegation of strategic administrative and planning functions of the various business units. On the other hand, the continuous pressure for improved performance was one of the main reasons for the creation of new problems for GE. Welch paid much attention on the development of GE’s cost advantage (General Electric Company 3). Due to this fact, GE could have missed a number of valuable opportunities in developing new markets and expanding its market share in product differentiation within those early Welch’s leadership years as employees and managers continued to focus on year-to-year performance and internal efficiency. With reference to the application of I-O model, Immet needed to have considerable growth in disparities for the income and benefits distribution will enable the flow of the system within several countries and in governance failures in most critical sectors. The other challenges, which are growing and large, include effective countervailing forces, which are yet to fully arise and at least become effective and complete. From such a vantage point, the main prospects for the significant amelioration of the constellations of various negative forces will appear bleak. The business threats come from a wide array of sources including the lack of opportunity and education in various critical areas, climate change worldwide and environmental degradation, and the increase of radical political movements for others (General Electric Company 3).
1 (b)
I hold the view that these strategies do not adequately show the intended impacts. This is mainly because others will argue that multilateral institutions and governments are essentially the main actors, which are capable of the effective management of risks to such a magnitude, and the proper responsibilities of business in creating the way, which will let governments, do their job. The possible source of a countervailing force is the GE business itself. The extent to which it is able to grow and address the array of threats of the market systems through addressing specific actions will include entrepreneurs and individual firms (Charan 1). Most people would maintain that such challenges are too massive in their respective scales for the firm to embrace significant impacts. Through signaling his high level of commitment to effective and efficient corporate governance as well as greater transparency such as in the inclusion of the introduction of detailed financial disclosures to relevant stakeholders, Immelt was in a position of managing all immediate external risks as well as assuring long-term profitability for continuing prospects to shareholders of GE’s. Additionally, he articulated and developed his strategy on outward-looking organic growth. This growth strategy was one of the new development frontiers for GE’s core competencies through the reception of strong endorsement. This was especially noted from external analysts and fellow managers. Growth strategies are analyzed alongside the dimensions of markets and products depending on the various mixes of potential and existing markets and products and for this reason, distinct strategies are at the disposal of the organization.
2 (a)
I am for the opinion that GE’s business and corporate strategies were aimed at achieving diversification. Essentially, having to announce the new acquisitions, he cuts the dividend for the purposes of helping preserve cash. Further, instead of disposing various underperforming units towards the strengthening of operations, Immelt holds on to the things that he does not consider desirable. The new vision has been lost along the daily concerns, which have continued to haunt GE. In recent operations, Immelt is buffeted by various complaints on the struggling capital unit of the GE Company and though slowing the growth in subsequent organizational industrial operations. This leaves him with minimal choices other than playing defense. This way, instead of implementing new radical solutions to address GE's problems, Immelt is bogged down with various dealings with the main finance issues. The corporate level strategy has much to do with the creation of value through the coordination of resources across various business units as well as finding new approaches of developing and capitalizing on the capabilities of the organizations with relevance to its long-term horizons. Even as such common issues continue surfacing across varying lines of business based on its planning process, this group is able to realize that there are things that were going as GE needed for the purposes of better understanding and possibly becoming part of the system. It is of the essence to appreciate the fact that entrepreneurs and companies are able to make material differences through aligning their respective activities with independent needs of sustainable economies and the upbringing of their distinctive capabilities and skills to bear critically on such disruptive forces. It is for this reason that the GE Company is able to help in strengthening the system as well as putting it on footing that is more secure.
2 (b)
As a proponent of RBV model the lead diversification strategy that I would propose is even though the independence of GE’s acquisitions were generally in line with the assessment of Immelt. This is on the basis of emerging global trends, retaining some of major GE’s mature low-growth operations like lighting products and appliances was evidently inconsistent with the strategies that were encountering overarching growth. Through such investments in the early stages of these ventures for all core aspects like renewable energy, water use, smart-grid development, and carbon management, GE was able to enlarge its innovation network through forging relationships using a cohort of creative scientists and entrepreneurs. These organic growth strategies by Immelt were market development and product development and were executed through a sequence of acquisitions and divestments in various sectors that had high growth potential. The strategic focus shifted to the creation of differentiation advantages under innovative bundles that ranged from products to services as well as enhanced customer focus. Therefore, GE’s acquisitions became clearly linked to the overall core competencies (Charan 1). On the other hand, I approve of GE seeking to diverse its business portfolio to the global arena. For the purposes of filling these gaps in the organization’s technology portfolio, GE gathered a thorough investment program, which sought to include in-house Research and development efforts and sizable venture funds of investing in various innovative energy and environmental solutions. Immelt went on to justify this through pointing out on the main roles as the lead cash generators that were enabled to provide stable bases for supporting GE’s growth businesses like infrastructure, healthcare, energy and commercial finance. Additionally, the company formed outside advisory board of leaders on matters of environmental and energy thoughts and concerns (General Electric Company 3). The members of this board were crucial in offering valuable external perspectives on the efforts of the company and sharing with various heads of GE’s business insights on issues and opportunities, which are emerging.
Works Cited:
Charan, R. Sharpening Your Business Acumen. Business+Strategy. eNews. 2006. Pp 1
2006. Retrieved on 4th December 2012 from
General Electric Company, GE Letter to Stakeholders: GE’s Growth Strategy. 2003 Annual Report. 2003. Pp 3. Retrieved on 4th December 2012 from
