GE Case Study
Case Study
GE’s Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch’s Leadership
By
For
BUS 463 - AE
Contents
Summary of Background and Facts
General Electric
General Electric (GE) occupied the eighth spot on Fortune 500’s list of companies at the close of 2013. While number eight was a slide from 2012’s number six GE maintains its position, as one of the world’s largest and most influential corporations. Today, GE’s operates in over 160 countries and is led by Jeffery Immelt. During 2013 GE reported, total revenues approached 147 billion USD and profits around 13.6 billion USD. (CNNMoney, 2013). GE appears in textbooks from the third grade through the PhD. Level of the world’s best business and engineering universities. No conversation about GE is complete without discussion two of its most prolific leaders, Thomas Edison and Jack Welch. Each of these leaders left their mark on GE, American Capitalism and the world.
The Wizard of Menlo Park
Thomas Edison was the most influential innovator and businessperson of America’s second generation. Born in 1847, just 71 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed Mr. Edison left his mark on history. While he is most famous for the electric light bulb, it could be argued that his ability to fuse science and business was what left his biggest mark on the world. Similar to Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Paul Allen and Steve Zuckerberg, Edison was a self-educated innovator who blended big ideas with uncompromising business skills. Edison formed a strategic partnership with J.P. Morgan to advance his alternating current (AC) technology and destroy competition from Nicholas Tesla’s alternating current (AC). “In 1892, a merger of Edison General Electric Company and Thomson-Houston Electric Company created General Electric Company. GE is the only company listed in the Dow Jones Industrial Index today that was also included in the original index in 1896.” (Gneral Electric, 2014).
GE’s Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch’s Leadership
By
For
BUS 463 - AE
Contents
Summary of Background and Facts
General Electric
General Electric (GE) occupied the eighth spot on Fortune 500’s list of companies at the close of 2013. While number eight was a slide from 2012’s number six GE maintains its position, as one of the world’s largest and most influential corporations. Today, GE’s operates in over 160 countries and is led by Jeffery Immelt. During 2013 GE reported, total revenues approached 147 billion USD and profits around 13.6 billion USD. (CNNMoney, 2013). GE appears in textbooks from the third grade through the PhD. Level of the world’s best business and engineering universities. No conversation about GE is complete without discussion two of its most prolific leaders, Thomas Edison and Jack Welch. Each of these leaders left their mark on GE, American Capitalism and the world.
The Wizard of Menlo Park
Thomas Edison was the most influential innovator and businessperson of America’s second generation. Born in 1847, just 71 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed Mr. Edison left his mark on history. While he is most famous for the electric light bulb, it could be argued that his ability to fuse science and business was what left his biggest mark on the world. Similar to Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Paul Allen and Steve Zuckerberg, Edison was a self-educated innovator who blended big ideas with uncompromising business skills. Edison formed a strategic partnership with J.P. Morgan to advance his alternating current (AC) technology and destroy competition from Nicholas Tesla’s alternating current (AC). “In 1892, a merger of Edison General Electric Company and Thomson-Houston Electric Company created General Electric Company. GE is the only company listed in the Dow Jones Industrial Index today that was also included in the original index in 1896.” (Gneral Electric, 2014).
Cited: Christopher A. Bartlett, M. W. (1999). GE 's Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch 's Leadership. Harvard Business Review. Christopher A. Bartlett, M. W. (2005). GE 's Two-Decade Transformation: Jack Welch 's Leadership. Harvard Business Review, 1-24. CNNMoney. (2013, December). Fortune 500. Retrieved from CNNMoney: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2013/snapshots/170.html?iid=F500_sp_list General Electric. (2014, January 20). Past Leaders. Retrieved from General Electric: https://www.ge.com/about-us/leadership/profiles/john-f-welch-jr Gneral Electric. (2014, Janurary 20). Fact Sheet. Retrieved from GE: http://www.ge.com/about-us/fact-sheet Kanter, R. M. (1991). Transcending Business Boundaries: 12,000 World Managers View Change. Harvard Business Review, 151-164. McIntosh, S. (2011). The Wingman-Philosopher of MiG Alley: John Boyd and the OODA Loop. Air Power History, 24-33. Slator, R. (1999). Jack Welch and the GE Way. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.