Essay on "International Visit General Electric's Corporate Website: Www.Ge.com"

Essay 10 pages (3646 words) Sources: 10

[EXCERPT] . . . .

International

Visit General Electric's corporate website: www.ge.com. In the company's citizenship section, research a GE produced report on one of its global initiatives. Summarize in detail the project's initiative. Discuss the potential positive and negative effects of the GE project on both GE and on the country in which it is located.

One of GE's global initiatives is that of Developing Health Globally. This program began in 2004 with a twenty million dollar investment in rural African communities. Since then it has grown to a five-year, thirty million dollar commitment that reaches eleven countries in Africa and Latin America. The program reaches out to hundreds of thousands of people who are in need (Citizenship, 2011).

This program is an example of the company's sustainable approach to philanthropy. In Ghana their volunteers work hard to build relationships and make sure that they improve healthcare in rural communities. Besides providing medical equipment they provide and install water, power and communications systems in order to address the gaps that exist in rural hospitals there. They also work closely with local healthcare teams in order to strengthen their sense of ownership (Citizenship, 2011).

There are a lot of positive effects that this program has on the countries in which they carry it out. This program allows for the people in these countries to receive the medical care that they desperately need. It provides them with medical equipment as well as infrastructure that allow their hospitals and healthcare providers to better deliver care. The underprivileged countries that this program helps would not otherwise have access to any of the equipment and services that it provides. It definitely helps their citizens to live happier and healthier lives. The only negative that might be seen is that of the expense for GE that exists with providing such a program. But this is not really a negative since a company with good corporate citizenship should give to communities that are less fortunate in the whole scheme of things.

2. Summarize the positive and negative aspects of offshoring, and state whether you support or are against offshoring and why. Include an experience that you or someone you know has had in which off shoring affected them positively/negatively.

Contracting out business activities to foreign providers, or what has come to be called offshoring, has been going on for a long time (Daniels, Radebaugh & Sullivan, 2011). By itself, offshoring is not as new a phenomenon as the feeling one may get from its current attention in the public media. The phenomenon, though, appears to have entered into a new stage with offshoring of services becoming more and more significant. This change in arrangement has been happening for some time, and is generally credited to the interaction between technological advances, economic and competitive pressures to decrease costs and advance productivity, and institutional developments favoring trade liberalization (Olsen, 2006).

Those who are in opposition to offshoring claim that there is a negative impact on wages and employment. It is felt that Americans are loosing their jobs at a high rate because jobs are being moved overseas. However, supporters of offshoring argue that the phenomenon has long-term financial benefits, and that it ultimately will increase living standards in some countries by way of positive productivity effects and decreases in factor expenses (Olsen, 2006).

I do not agree with the process of outsourcing. I believe that American companies should do business in America. There are plenty of people in this country who are out of work and need the employment. Besides the fact that good jobs are being lost I also feel that in a lot of cases quality suffers as well. The one experience that I have had with offshoring has to do with getting customer service help from certain companies. There is nothing worse than calling a company for help and being connected to someone who either speaks no English or has such a heavy accent that you can't understand them at all. Companies should not offshore their first line of contact between themselves and their customers.

Unit 3

1. How much of Walmart's success is due to NAFTA, and how much is due to Walmart's inherent competitive strategy? Discuss some of the positive effects of Wal-Mart's success in Mexico and some of the negative effects. Faced with going out of business, what steps did Comerci take to remain competitive? What other steps do you think Comerci should take to secure its future and further compete with Wal-Mart's operations in Mexico?

A lot of Walmart's success is due to their inherent competitive strategy. Walmart is known for their slogan of Every Day Low Prices which has done very well for them in the United States. Because of the size and volume of purchases that Walmart makes they are able to negotiate with suppliers to lower prices to acceptable levels. They also work closely with their suppliers on inventory levels using a system that informs suppliers when purchases have been made and when they need more inventories (Daniels, Radebaugh & Sullivan, 2011). They brought a set of superior management techniques and technologies with them that have help tremendously (Tilly, 2005).

Walmart's success in Mexico has been phenomenal. They are the biggest retailer in Mexico and own more than half of all retail sales. They have captured fifty-five percent of the Mexican retail market and have become the largest private employer with one hundred and forty thousand employees. The side effects from this success are that competitors are finding it very hard to keep up with them (Daniels, Radebaugh & Sullivan, 2011).

One of these competitors is Comerci. Faced with the possibility of going out of business Comerci decided to merge with two other struggling companies, Soriana and Gigante, in order to form a purchasing group that would be able to negotiate better bulk prices from suppliers (Daniels, Radebaugh & Sullivan, 2011). On top of putting themselves in a better position to negotiate prices with their suppliers they also need to more their inventory structure more towards one like Walmart has with their just in time philosophy (Hayes, 2010). This structure allows them to always have the right amount of inventory when they need it.

2. What are the principal regulations or practices of nontariff quantity controls instituted by governments that affect imports and exports? Why are these practices or regulations implemented? Do you feel regulations and controls should be increased/decreased? Support your perspective with rationale, evidence, and/or examples.

The principal regulations and practices that nontariff quantity controls by governments include: quantitative restrictions, tariff quota, voluntary export restraints, orderly marketing arrangements, export subsidy, export credit subsidy, government procurement, import licensing, antidumping duties and technical barriers to trade (Mehta, 2005). Import controls are used to augment consumer prices because there is little inducement to use price as a means of growing sales. In the case of import tariffs the gains from price increases to consumers are received in the appearance of government revenue in the importing country. Export controls on the other hand are put into practice to make sure that domestic consumers will have an adequate supply of goods at a low price, to avert exhaustion of natural resources, or to try to raise an export price by limiting supply in foreign markets (Nontariff barriers: Quantity controls, 2011).

Regulations and controls on importing and exporting should be increased so that there is better control on the things that are coming in and going out of the country. Even though trade is a very important aspect of the countries make up (Exporting and Importing, 2011) it is very important that this practice be regulated to make sure that they right products are going out and coming in. This is not only vital to our economy but to our national security as well, particularly on what is coming into the country. That last thing that we would want is for other countries to be able to ship whatever they wanted into our country with no one monitoring that practice. This could end up being very dangerous to the country as a whole. These practices of importing and exporting definitely need to be heavily regulated for everyone's safety.

Unit 4

1. Assume the role of a CFO of a mid-sized company that exports to Europe. Your company received a contract to supply components to a German manufacturer. Discuss the various approaches available to help you accurately forecast exchange rates. Identify the implications of exchange-rate changes on the company's marketing, production, and financial decisions.

The two most frequently used methods for forecasting exchange rates are the fundamental approach and the technical approach. The fundamental approach forecasts exchange rates after taking into consideration the factors that give rise to long-term cycles. Basic data related to a country, such as GDP, inflation rates, productivity indices, balance of trade and unemployment rate are all taken into account. This approach is based on the principle that the true worth of a currency will ultimately be realized. The technical approach is based on… READ MORE

How to Reference "International Visit General Electric's Corporate Website: Www.Ge.com" Essay in a Bibliography

Related Essays:

Textron's Web Site (Www.Textron.Com) to See Case Study

Textron's Web site (www.textron.com) to see whether the firm still operates with the five divisions. While at the web site, determine whether the industrial division has the same product segments… read more

Case Study 2 pages (660 words) Sources: 2 Topic: Business / Corporations / E-commerce

---

General Electric's Ecomagination Initiative in May, 2005 Essay

General Electric's Ecomagination Initiative

In May, 2005 Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric (GE), launched the eco-imagination global initiative that sought to invent new products and services that preserved and… read more

Essay 2 pages (602 words) Sources: 4 Topic: Business / Corporations / E-commerce

---

International Business General Electric (Nyse:ge) Operates Term Paper

International Business

General Electric (NYSE:GE) operates in 120 nations and operates as a diversified corporation with divisions active in aircraft engines, household appliances, power generation, water processing, medical imaging, in… read more

Term Paper 2 pages (607 words) Sources: 5 Topic: Management / Organizations

---

Management at General Electric Research Paper

GE, Crotonville.

General Eletcric

General Electric Crotonville

At the beginning of 1981, Jack Welch was not recognized as one of the adored CEOs globally. Jack Welch joined General Electric (GE)… read more

Research Paper 6 pages (2060 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Management / Organizations

---

How Did Jack Welch Overcome the Impossible and Transform General Electric GE? Essay

GE Jack Welch

Jack Welch used a number of techniques to overcome the impossible and reshape General Electric's culture. The company had been a management innovator for much of its… read more

Essay 5 pages (1426 words) Sources: 1 Topic: Management / Organizations

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>