重新定位GE

Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric’s affable chief executive, never seems frustrated. His smile is invariably warm, his handshake welcoming, his demeanor calm and good-natured.

But make no mistake, this is one frustrated man. As he sees it, GE proves again and again that its diversified portfolio of businesses gives it an advantage over single-focused competitors. Where Immelt sees a group of businesses that build on each other’s technological, managerial and customer service strengths, however, investors see a mélange of companies that do not belong under the same umbrella. To make matters worse, GE derives about 45 percent of its revenue from financial services, a sector that, even in the best of times, trades at lower multiples than industrial companies do.

The upshot: GE shares have been getting hammered. Problem loans, a critically weak real estate market and troubles in the health care unit and with consumer finance in Japan converged on GE earlier this year. It reported first-quarter earnings of 43 cents a share. Analysts had forecast 51 cents, and furious investors sent the stock plummeting by 13 percent, to $32.05.

GE恢复了通常的游戏 - 通过一分钱 - 上季度迎接或击败期望，即时在金融危机中席卷。事实上，GE Capital已经没有造成融资本身，并且仍然是非常溶剂。GE仍然有一个三重信用评级。

尽管如此，仍然存在普遍存在的人与华尔街公司一起摇摇欲坠。美国政府将本公司纳入其无条清单。GE于9月25日暂停其股票回购计划，并将其全年盈利估计至1.95美元至2.10美元股，从2.20美元到2.30美元的份额。它在10月份提高了150亿美元的资本，其中来自沃伦巴菲特的30亿美元投资，股价为每股120.25美元。投资者被吓坏了。GE的股票在2000年最高达到60美元上涨，并没有将数月的20多岁。他们于10月2日以27.15美元的价格交易。

当然，讽刺意味着，在八年中，他已经首席执行官，艾梅尔大大减少了GE经营的企业人数，同时将其转变为一个真正的国际公司，该公司将新兴国家政府作为主要客户。GE刚刚在阿布扎比的国家投资车辆中创造了80亿美元的合资企业，在阿布扎比，投资于清洁能源等地区。Mubadala还答应买足够的股票，使其成为GE的十大股东之一。

Immelt is certain that he has hit on a winning strategy. In a recent conversation with亚博赞助欧冠贡献作者克劳迪娅德国，他解释了原因。

亚博赞助欧冠机构投资者：分析师和投资者不断扼杀你完全分手GE。你为什么拒绝？

Immelt:This company has averaged 11 percent earnings growth over the past 30 years, while the S&P has averaged 7 percent. Our margins are invariably higher than those of our competitors. And if you look at businesses we’ve sold over the years — which one do you hear saying, ‘Wow, I’m performing like a champ now that I’m away from GE!’? Our businesses share best practices and intellectual capabilities, they share technologies, they offer scale. Everyone says we should sell NBC Universal, but I’m telling you, the people there don’t want to be sold.

But you have sold off chunks of GE. Reinsurance and plastics are gone. You’re selling your private-label credit card business and consumer lending in Japan. And you’ve just put legacy businesses like appliances and lighting up for auction. Aren’t you, de facto, breaking up the company?

一点也不。是的，我卖了超过40％的GE。一些企业，如塑料，我们可能应该在90年代后期销售，当盈利达到顶峰，竞争对手的数量已经增加了四倍。但是当我们在这种人为浮力经济中时，难以致力于投资组合。

But you’re right, I never expected to reshape the portfolio to this extent. I certainly never expected that I’d sell reinsurance, for example. In 2001, 20 percent of our earnings were from insurance. We were a 50 P/E stock, and you sure don’t think of selling a business that provides that large a chunk of earnings.

But don’t forget, I’ve bought lots of companies too. Renewable energy, water, life sciences, cable television — all these businesses were built on companies we acquired.

When you took over GE, it had 11 businesses. You reduced that to six a while ago. And recently, you whittled it to four. It sure looks like you are at least trying to give the appearance of deconglomeratizing.

We’re simplifying the company, not dismantling it. And one of the benefits is that we can give some of our best leaders, people like John Rice [president of the technology infrastructure division] or Mike Neal [president of capital and capital services] or Jeff Zucker [president of NBC Universal], even more responsibility than they have now.

医疗保健，你上次跑的单位曾经是GE的一个闪亮的星星。但在新的结构下，它不再向首席执行官报告。您是否决定淡化这项业务？

Anything but. Half of our television advertising budget is devoted to health care. It is one of this company’s most important faces.

You have publicly said that you expect 60 percent of GE’s revenue to come from outside the U.S. by 2010. Does the conglomerate structure help or hinder you overseas?

它肯定有帮助。我们有一个全球首席执行官计划，我们向其中一些方法教授非洲或印度或东南亚的公司负责人。而且我告诉你，他们都渴望成为企业家，他们认为这是周围最好的业务结构。

我们向没有大量管理人员和MBA的政府销售，这希望能够简化他们的生活的重要关系。从一家大公司购买飞机发动机和医疗设备和电力系统更简单。

GE的不同业务覆盖了北京奥运会。GE设备提供了水和电力，NBC广播了游戏。奥运会因为它看起来有限公司是公司的借调？

当然，我们在奥运会上赚钱，但更重要的是，它将是一个快速增长的跳板。GE名称在中国夸大其夸张，而不仅仅是作为NBC的父母，而是作为技术司机。你在北京逃走了你的飞机，在机场里有广告。在奥运会上，是我们的“想象力中心”，展示了我们所有的技术。奥运会让我们真正展示了我们在媒体和基础设施业务之间获得的相互作用。这是迪士尼或霍尼韦尔不能做的事情。

在奥运会上无法真正展示的一件事是金融服务的合肥组合，仍然提供约45％的收入。这不是太高，特别是这几天吗？

我们不要受到边界条件的制约s, by the idea that you can’t invest in any good business. But, yes, there was a time when financial services represented more than half of earnings, and investors made it clear they weren’t comfortable with that. And in the past year financial services has become a really tough neighborhood to be in. We’re now on track to get up to 60 percent of earnings from industrial businesses.

That’s a major change for GE. Have there been other radical shifts in management philosophies on your watch?

For the past five years, we’ve really worked on repositioning the GE brand from consumer to industrial. We get a lot more brand equity from our ecomagination products than we ever got from appliances.

We are more customer-focused and more focused on technology and innovation. And, as we have globalized, we have embraced partnerships. Before, we wouldn’t have realized that to succeed in the Mideast we need a partner like Mubadala. I hate to call it less arrogance on our part — let’s just refer to it as more openness to learning from others.

What can GE offer a sovereign wealth fund in a rich country like Abu Dhabi?

We’ll build a headquarters and a research center in Abu Dhabi, and we’ll help develop people and skill sets. We’ll invest in Mubadala’s clean energy fund, they’ll put money in our industrial investment fun. It’s a true partnership, the kind they can’t get by investing in a hedge fund.

您正在选择倾销电器和照明，在当前的住房环境中，这是一个非常强硬的销售。但是，当您希望在中国，印度和其他发展中国家都击中未来的中国的消费者时，为什么不想跳进那些市场的市场？

已有200个照明公司和50家家电公司在中国。购买家电部门的人将继续使用GE品牌。我们将密切关注质量，确保没有任何威胁我们的声誉。但总的来说，我们最好在海外呼叫卡粘贴到高科技基础设施企业。