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| Industry Perspective GE Leadership Leads the Way in Competitive IT Jack Welch, the former Chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE) earned wide recognition as an outstanding corporate manager. During his 20 years at the helm of GE, he raised the corporation’s profits from $1.6 billion to more than $10 billion on revenues of $110 billion. Under his leadership, GE created a business culture that is widely regarded as the best in the world. GE became the envy of many for its ability to run a global company efficiently and profitably. While a lot of executives and traditional businesses have been slow to react to the competitive advantages made possible by the Internet, Jack Welch and GE were not among them. He recognized early on that the potential of the Internet would bring new threats and opportunities that GE could not afford to ignore. He urged managers of GE’s business units to examine their competitive positions and think “destroyyourbusiness.com”. In other words, he asked them to try and visualize how a competitor could use the Internet to make inroads into their markets or gain a competitive advantage over them. Thinking that way, GE managers would be able to innovate and change their businesses before a new competitor arrived on the scene. He was also known for leading by example, unlike many of his peers at other companies. One of the ways he did this was to assign young mentors to himself and 3,000 other top GE executives to teach them how to use the Web. Welch was serious about changing the culture at GE from a traditional one to one that was Internet-driven and it worked. He saw the potential for using the Web to eliminate unnecessary layers of middle management, promote teamwork, improve customer service, and make GE more competitive. Jack Welch remains a great example of the kind of vision, leadership, and understanding that winning corporations need from their CEOs if they are going to be able to thrive in the information economy. Industry Perspective Here Comes Electronic Ink E Ink (www.eink.com) is a proprietary material that can be processed into a lightweight, flexible film, not unlike paper, that can be used for electronic displays. Ultimately, it could be used for highly portable devices (a book that could be folded like a pocket handkerchief, for example). For now, E Ink offers changeable signage to the retail store market. Signs on display shelves that describe products or post prices, or larger advertising signs, contain information retailers want customers to see. Using E Ink’s technology, signs can be instantly changed from a centrally controlled computer. Prices and other information can be changed to accommodate local conditions. A shop could raise the price for umbrellas on a rainy day, or a grocer could reduce the price for bananas that are getting a bit over ripe. |