Strategic Analysis of One Business Unit in GE

Present a current critical strategic analysis of ONE Business Unit
within General Electric

You are required to cover the following topics covered in the module:

 Resource Audit
 Value Systems
 Product/Service portfolio (BCG Matrix)
 Potential future strategic growth
o Identification of options
o Evaluation of options.

You may want to focus the analysis on a specific product. This is fine but you will need to
make the focus of the analysis clear to the reader.

News & Web Links
The links below provide some starting points but students MUST add their own detailed
research to develop the analysis:
https://www.gepower.com/
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/ge/news
https://www.theguardian.com/business/generalelectric
https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/GE:US

The following structure is required for the submitted report:
1 Introduction to the report
2 Brief strategic position of the company
3 A critical evaluation of the resources and value systems of the company
4 A critical evaluation of the product/portfolio mix within the SBU
5 A critical analysis and evaluation of KEY future directions for strategic growth
6 Recommendations

The coursework is an individual piece of work. It will be 3,000 words, inclusive of
appendices (+/- 10%). Please note that text in diagrams or tables will count towards the
word count.

Hand in date: tbc
It is important that attention be focused on a strategic appraisal of the company as opposed
University of South Wales (USW)
to providing lots of interesting facts over what interests you or what you find on the
internet.

Assessment will focus on students’ abilities in applying strategic models and
frameworks in a coherent manner that enables them to develop a clear strategic view of the
strategic position being studied. You do not need to reference many academic sources in
this element of the assessment, but you must reference sources of company or market
information. Furthermore, you must reference sources for any theoretical background
that you decide to include.
Marking Criteria
(The marks for each criterion are to illustrate where the main effort should be spent and are
not meant to be a strict marking scheme)
Indicative
Percentage
Criteria
30% Application of Frameworks and models
The required frameworks and models introduced in the assignment task
should be applied correctly to identify the key issues emerging relevant
to the business example selected.
60% Depth of Strategic Evaluation.
Key strategic factors should be critically evaluated to develop the
required depth of analysis of the business example selected. A strong
analysis needs to be evidence based rather than appear to be personal
opinion so must draw on relevant sources e.g. news & media, industry
publications, company web pages and documentation
10% Clarity of Structure and Presentation
The report is well organised and logically constructed, following the
layout indicated in the assignment task. The quality of writing, spell
checking, grammar and referencing need to demonstrate accuracy to
ensure the reader can focus on the analysis provided
(The marks for each criterion are to illustrate where the main effort should be spent)
Please remember that an assignment is not meant to DESCRIBE what you have found.
Analysis means commenting on your findings and EXPLAINING what the evidence suggests
about the company.
Marking Criteria
(The marks for each criterion are to illustrate where the main effort should be spent and are
not meant to be a strict marking scheme)
Presentation
 Use of front page to set out important details i.e. title of work, student number, etc.
University of South Wales (USW)
 Well laid out text that is easy to follow
Analysis
 Strategic Position
o Sets out the Differentiation position of GE
o Provide some clear examples to illustrate the strategic position
o Identify the SBU being examined in relation to others within the company
 Resource/Competences
o Identify the main resources and skills within the company
o The section should act as an introduction to the Value Systems
o Use of Resource/Competence model helps to identify the balance related to
the strategic position so that you can discuss the way the balance isrelevant
to the aims of the SBU
o Avoid just describing the resources that have been identified
 Value System
o Identify the activities that enable the strategic position of the company
o Use the Value Chain model to critically examine key activities and the links
between them
o Look to evaluate relevant external links that create value for the company
o Develop an analysis of the activities rather than just a list of examples of
company activity
 BCG
o Use the model to identify the portfolio of SBUs or product ranges
o Develop a critical explanation of positions that have been identified
 Future Directions
o Use the Product/Matrix model to identify potential areas offuture
development
o Critically explore the relevant differences of each section of the model e.g.
Market development and product offer different challenges
 Conclusions & Recommendations
o Draw the main aspects of the analysis together
o Set out key points that can be considered for strategic development
Structure
 Clear balance of the report
 Effective use of headings, sub-headings
Use of supporting evidence
 Clear use of relevant sources to support the analysis, particularly current news and
media material
 Awareness of the balance of sources
 The evidence is developed into the analysis to provide the depth of explanation
Style of writing
 Clear writing style
 Avoid a personal, descriptive style in the analysis
University of South Wales (USW)
General Guidance to students
Structure
 The introduction should be brief. It is not meant to provide a history of General
Electric’s
 The Conclusion needs to draw the analysis to a close and comment on the
sustainability of General Electric’s strategic position. Remember you do not
introduce new findings into the Conclusion
 If you include Appendices you must refer to them in the relevant section of the
report findings
 References should clearly list all the material that has been referred to in thereport
and set out using Harvard style:
Models/Content
 Remember to use the models in a ‘dynamic’ way i.e. place relevant examples onto
the models. Do not simply copy and paste ‘generic’ examples from the lectureslides
 Words in the models are included in the word limit. The models lose their value if
they are full of text. They should aid understanding not confuse the reader because
too much has been stuffed into them
 Models should be included in the main body of the report. Only place them in the
appendices if they are close to a full page
 You may well refer to points made in earlier parts of the report to show the
connections in the analysis. This shows an awareness of the links betweenthemes
 You will struggle to stay within the word limit so focus on the KEY DRIVERS inyour
analysis
 You will not be able to use all of the examples if you have done the level ofreading
required so ‘cherry pick’ those that best illustrate the key drivers
 Facts and figures need to be supported with sources clearly referenced.
Presentation
 Be your own independent work and free from plagiarism by ensuring that work that
is not your own is clearly referenced
 Use Harvard style citation and referencing using the Drop-in centre published
guidelines
 Be written in appropriate academic style
 Be professionally presented
 Be word processed using font size 12 for the main text and 1.5 line spacing
 Have numbered pages
 Have been spell checked and proof-read
 Be anonymous and have your Student Enrolment number on every page
 Have a clearly labelled front page detailing the module code and title, title of the
assignment, tutors name, your enrolment number and the date of submission
 Be submitted via the Turnitin link on the module VLE.

The Solution in Brief

  1. Introduction

This research provides a current critical strategic analysis of general electric Oil and Gas Strategic Business Unit (SBU) of the company. In this strategic analysis, we shall conduct a resource audit, value chain analysis of the Oil and Gas sub-business unit including its SBU Product matrix analysis, and the organisation long term growth strategy. Specifically, the first section provides a general introduction into GE and particularly Oil and Gas unit, which form the basis of another discussion.

General Electric is a multinational corporation that operates in over 170 countries of the world with its headquarter at Boston, Massachusetts (GE, 2016 Annual report; panmore.com). The organisation has within the last five years ranked within 6-11th largest corporation in the world by Fortune magazine with its least ranking of 11th position in 2017 in terms of revenue (latest ranking put the organisation at US$123.7 billion with total asset of US$365.2 billion (see also Wikipedia, 2017)). The latest ranking may not be far-fetched giving the recent dwindling of the corporation revenue especially the Oil and Gas SBU. Of course, the organisation 2016 annual report revealed that the firm revenue slummed down between 2014-2015 but picked a little in 2016. Specifically, the Oil and Gas revenue fall from $19.1Billion in 2014 to $16.5B in 2015 and further to $12.9B in 2016 (GE 2016 Report). The organisation is well diversified and has been ranked 19th most innovative companies in the world by fast company in 2017. The organisation has been quoted in “NYSE, Euronext Paris and London Stock Exchange” among others (Marketwatch.com). Their state of technology is one of the best in the world, the organisation has developed different software that facilitates information gathering in a matter click in the global world and have invested so much in R&D to facilitate their innovation drives (GE, 2017).

In terms of human resources, the organisation boast of about 330, 000 employees with few of its employees (Irving Langmuir in 1932 and Iva Giaever in 1973) been past Nobel prize winners (Wikipedia, 2017). The company pride itself as having one of the world innovative, coordinated and technically endowed employees (GE, 2017), this also reflected in its management style especially under Jack Welch, who drives the corporation on the major innovative part, leading to the development of the popular GE Matrix for analysis business units. The corporation has diversified into different business areas and industry and has over time played a leadership role in the majority of the industries. In this research, GE business unit will be grouped into Power, Renewable energy, Oil and Gas, Aviation, Healthcare, Transportation, Energy connection & Lightning, Capital, and Appliances (see, GE 2016 Report). The specific products offered by GE include “electricity and water distribution facilities, energy products comprising of petroleum and LPG products, aerospace engines, electrical motors, healthcare services and software solutions to other industries”. This strategic analysis will focus on the Oil and Gas sub business unit of GE.

The Oil & Gas unit of GE has its headquarter in London, United Kingdom. The company involves in drilling and distribution of Natural gas and oil in the world with numerous products and services including, “drilling of high sulfur gas, refining, processing, petrochemicals, and plastic. Other includes the offering of equipment for production platforms, compressors, turbines. Turbo drilling and production system, reinjection of oil and gas from harsh environments”. The corporation pride itself of its innovative design for the boil-off gas compressor that draws on extensive design in-field experience which has been validated through a dedicated experimental campaign of detailed analysis and testing (See Wikipedia, 2017; GE 2016 Report; Geoilandgas.com). Of course, the corporation through its innovative ability lived up to its mission that states “Pushing the boundaries of technology in oil and gas to bring energy to the world”…………….. continued

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