General Electric's Strategic Shift

After reading the article, “G.E Goes With What It Knows: Making Stuff” by Steve Lohr, I was intrigued about the new strategy that G.E. initiated and I wanted to learn more about the General Electric company and their recovery after the financial crisis. This article discussed the shift back to business practices that G.E. knew and did best after the financial crisis in 2008 and discussed numerous strategic shifts in business in order to recover from the financial distress. Although this article was written in 2010, I was able to find more recent articles that also discussed this topic in great detail. 

In the article, “G.E. Results Reflect Shift Away From Finance Unit,” by Steve Lohr we also see this discussion about the steady return to the company’s “industrial roots.” This article discussed General Electric’s shift from focusing on GE Capital to focusing more on its industrial businesses (for example: jet engines, medical equipment, and machinery.) As this was the same author writing both of these pieces, you hear several of the same ideas and concepts, which is quite interesting since these articles were written four years apart from one another. This shows that General Electric is still committed to focusing on the business areas where they shine, as it is difficult to break into other established markets. At the end of this article an analyst, Steven Winoker states, “G.E. is right in the middle of making major changes, remaking its portfolio.” It seems that G.E. is still committed to improving its business practices and focusing on the industrial businesses that have been the most lucrative for them.

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Steve Lohr, “G.E. Goes With What It Knows: Making Stuff,” New York Times, December 4, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/business/05ge.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1, Accessed July 19, 2015.

Steve Lohr, “G.E. Results Reflect Shift Away From Finance Unit,” New York Times, July 18, 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/19/business/general-electrics-earnings-reflect-a-transformative-strategy.html, accessed July 19, 2015.