General Electric

Formation
By 1890, Thomas Edison had brought together several of his business interests under one corporation to form Edison General Electric. At about the same time, Thomson-Houston Electric Company, under the leadership of Charles Coffin, gained access to a number of key patents through the acquisition of a number of competitors. Subsequently, General Electric was formed by the 1892 merger of Edison General Electric of Schenectady, New York and ThomsonHouston Electric Company of Lynn, Massachusetts and both plants remain in operation under the GE banner to this day.[10] The company was incorporated in New York, with the Schenectady plant as headquarters for many years thereafter. Around the same time, General Electric's Canadian counterpart, Canadian General Electric, was formed. GE GE is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world's toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, medical imaging, and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. GE has a strong set of global businesses in infrastructure, finance and media aligned to meet today's needs, including the demand for global infrastructure; growing and changing demographics that need access to healthcare, finance, and information and entertainment; and environmental technologies. In 2010, GE delivered solid results despite the tough economic climate with earnings of $12.6 billion. Industrial cash flow from operating activities for the year remained strong at over $14.7 billion. BUSINESS Through these businesses, GE participates in a wide variety of markets including the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity (e.g. nuclear, gas and solar), lighting, industrial automation, medical imaging equipment, motors, railway locomotives, aircraft jet engines, and aviation services. It co-owns NBCUniversal with Comcast. Through GE Commercial Finance, GE Consumer Finance, GE Equipment Services, and GE Insurance it offers a range of financial services as well. It has a presence in over 100 countries GE gauges to control a railway locomotive at a museum near Saskatoon, Canada[35] GE also produces General Imaging digital cameras.[36] In 2010, General Imaging released the Bridge Camera GE X5 with 14MP and 15x optical zoom.[37] In 2011, it is replaced by 16MP GE X500 with optional red color in Japan besides traditional black or white color in world wide.[38] Since over half of GE's revenue is derived from financial services, it is arguably a financial company with a manufacturing arm. It is also one of the largest lenders in countries other than the United States, such as Japan. Even though the first wave of conglomerates (such as ITT Corporation, Ling-Temco-Vought, Tenneco, etc.) fell by the wayside by the mid-1980s, in the late 1990s, another wave (consisting of Westinghouse, Tyco, and others) tried and failed to emulate GE's success

INTERNAL AUDIT
Strengths a. Reported by Forbes as the largest company of 2009. b. The company has 3 23,000 employees. c. The company deal with huge number of products which include Genie, Aviation, Jet engines, Electricity, Entertainment, Finance, Gas, turbines, Generation, Industrial Automation, Lighting, Medical imaging equipment, Medical technology, Health informatics, Electric motors, Locomotives, Wind turbines, TV and motion pictures. d. The company made number of acquisition in previous few years. e. Enjoying high revenues and profits. f. GE is the fourth most recognized brand in the world. g. The ge.com is the 20th domain to have been registered on August 5th 1986. h. It has four divisions namely GE Energy Infrastructure, GE Technology Infrastructure, GE Capital, and NBC Universal. i. GE is one of the major computers company. j. In Fortune Magazines 2005 Global Most Admired Companies list, GE ranked first overall. (February 2005) k. In Fortune Magazines 2006 Americas Most Admired Companies list, GE ranked first overall. (March 2006). l. GE was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index as one of the worlds leaders in environmental, social and economic programs. m. GE ranked ninth on Fortune Magazines 50 Most Desirable MBA Employers list. n. Strong Management and Culture. o. Excellent Research and development department. p. Operating in 160 countries q. Diverse product range r. Order backlog guarantees business flow in the future s. Strong management & culture in terms of people, systems, technology and measures Weaknesses a. GE is the 4th largest producer of air and water pollution. b. GE was charged by department of defense on corrupt practices for Jet Engines sales to Israel. c. In past misleading investors for high returns. d. Performing not very well in Asian markets. e. GE energy segment is under performing
f. g. h. i. Bets on financial markets have proven unsuccessful with economic turmoil Weak revenue growth of industrial segment Underperforming in Asian markets Generates more than half of its profits from GE capital services, hard hit by the economic downturn of 2008.

EXTERNAL AUDIT

Opportunities
a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. development of infrastructure

Opportunity to invade china market. Mergers with companies Reduce pollution Improve customer service Aviation industry growth Increasing global exploration and production Servicing and regeneration of commercial airplanes around the world customer services initiative

Threats a. b. c. d. e.
f.

Currency fluctuations. Intense competition in the industry Recession in majority of countries. Government regulation on environmental concerns. Exposure to financial markets

Senior management - weak performance by GE has put doubts on Jeff Immelt's ability to be the next Jack Welch g. Rising commodity prices h. Exposure to financial markets i. World economic slowdown in the US and Eurozone, two of the most important markets for GE