Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • November 2022
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

GE: A New Way Forward?

By: David J. Collis and Haisley Wert
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:23
ShareBar

Abstract

One of the most iconic American companies, General Electric (GE) was founded in 1892 in New York state. Named among the original dozen companies on the Dow Jones index in 1896, it was the list’s most tenacious holdout, maintaining its “blue chip” stock status for over one hundred years. Throughout its history, GE survived, indeed initiated, revolutions across industries, technologies, and managerial practices.
By the time award-winning “Manager of the Century” Jack Welch retired from his position as CEO in 2001, GE’s market capitalization was over $410 billion. That peak was never surpassed, and the subsequent decline tested company leadership. Welch’s hand-picked successor CEO Jeffrey Immelt oversaw GE’s near-bankruptcy in 2008 and warranted SEC penalties for misleading investors between 2015 and 2017. Media critiqued his replacement, John Flannery, for lacking urgency as he slashed the company’s once-coveted dividend in half.
In October 2018, H. Lawrence Culp became the first outsider CEO in the company’s history after another Board intervention. With a changing landscape that had rendered Welch’s handbook outdated and recent leadership that had been heavily criticized, Larry Culp faced looming strategic challenges. Would Culp's financial, managerial, and structural transformation empower long-term value creation?

Keywords

Strategy; GE; Conglomerate; Conglomerates; Corporate Strategy; Management; History; Leadership; Problems and Challenges; Change Management; Transformation; Strategic Planning; Value Creation; New York (state, US)

Citation

Collis, David J., and Haisley Wert. "GE: A New Way Forward?" Harvard Business School Case 723-373, November 2022.
  • Educators
  • Purchase

More from the Authors

    • April 2025
    • Faculty Research

    #FutureFresenius: 'Committed to Life' in 2024 and Beyond (B)

    By: David J. Collis, Benjamin C. Esty and Haisley Wert
    • April 2025
    • Faculty Research

    #FutureFresenius: Implementing a New Strategy to Transform the Company and Advance Patient Care

    By: David J. Collis, Benjamin C. Esty and Haisley Wert
    • January 2025 (Revised April 2025)
    • Faculty Research

    Less Is More: Will Aldi's Expansion Plans Pay Off in a Crowded U.S. Grocery Market?

    By: David Collis and Haisley Wert
More from the Authors
  • #FutureFresenius: 'Committed to Life' in 2024 and Beyond (B) By: David J. Collis, Benjamin C. Esty and Haisley Wert
  • #FutureFresenius: Implementing a New Strategy to Transform the Company and Advance Patient Care By: David J. Collis, Benjamin C. Esty and Haisley Wert
  • Less Is More: Will Aldi's Expansion Plans Pay Off in a Crowded U.S. Grocery Market? By: David Collis and Haisley Wert
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.