Essay --

Corporate level strategy is about creating value by coordinating resources across business units and finding new ways to develop and capitalise on the organisation’s capabilities over a long-term horizon. GE’s corporate strategy between 1981 and 2001 was all about performance and efficiency (Bucifal, 2009). Grand strategies adopted and implemented during the period are restructuring, retrenchment, divestment, acquisitions and mergers. Through his organisational restructure CEO Welch eliminated several layers of management and shed a large number of jobs. He led a sustained attack on bureaucratic processes and in its place he sought to instill a culture of candidness, confidence, direction and imaginative thinking at every level of the organisation. He implemented an important restructure of the GE business portfolio, spotlighting on a restricted number of sectors with promising performance and growth potential, whilst retaining a fairly diversified portfolio of business es. This was achieved through the sale of GE’s less profitable businesses and retention or acquisition of businesses identified as number one or number two in their industry (Grant 2008, p.304). The strategy led to several huge divestments and the shifting of emphasis towards GE’s technology-based businesses and service businesses (Bock 2001). A series of acquisitions that followed led to the phenomenal growth of GE Capital, which became one of the world’s leading diversified financial services companies (Grant 2008, p.304). He continuously stretched performance targets through planning strategically, controlling finance, and the management of human resource. Welch introduced periodic corporate initiatives which became known as GE’s Operating System. The major initi... ...eir strategy can yet still be improved, however. Currently, MobileMe - a service Apple offers on its iPhones to that keeps contacts, calendar, and email in sync across multiple devices over the air - is a premium service that costs $99 per year. This is the wrong approach. MobileMe should be free and integrated into Apple’s platforms rather than a premium service. MobileMe should act like the fastener that integrates the platforms and as an attraction for users. Apple’s objective should be to get maximum MobileMe clients. Users, who are happy using MobileMe across their various devices, are less likely to switch to a competitor’s product. This is what Google has done so well with the Android OS on smartphones and tablets. The iBook Store, too, which at the moment is like a book store, should instead become a print media platform for books, newspapers and magazines.