Hello, as everyone knows IBM has a long history of re-balancing and right sizing accompanied by no raises and destruction of good will and employee well being. In the 90's we were in what to me feels like a similar situation to that of GE today. They ushered out the then CEO John Akers who was asleep at the wheel for years and brought in Lou Gerstner who we called the cookie monster because of his previous position running Nabisco. What did he know about mainframe computers or engineering. He was ruthless, IBM was a job for life company ( and with respect). It all ended that day. We gave at the office and gave and gave and got nothing. The lucky ones got laid off first. The only people who really made out were shareholders. IBM shares split and split and rose and rose on the back of belittled employees and today are worth many times more than the 1990's. It is this wealth accumulation aspect of GE's current situation I would suggest one does not lose sight of. Though filled with anger, even hate and uncertainty this could be the greatest time for GE" stock in a long time. Don't get too mad, get even. My best wishes.
9 replies (most recent on top)
Having worked for both IBM and GE (I left GE earlier this year), I can tell you that GE is just as poorly run as IBM. We'll see what Flannery has on Monday, but so far it's been nothing substantive. Cutting down on use of private aircraft and killing the executive car program will not do anything material to the company's fortunes. He needs a wholesale clearing out of the GE "lifers" at the VP level and above to have any true impact.
@njr greed is when you run a business on a short cycle, playing financial games, all in order to maximize your bonus
So in short, who cares about your job, get psyched about the stock price. Alrighty.
This guy Flannery is a hitman plain and simple. He is going to do what the GE heritage management did not have the heart or lack thereof to do. Pensions will at the least be frozen at a lower level and cut completely for employees below 40 years of age or so. There is precedent that they can take it away from you. Only government pensions are secure and they are the ones that will allow GE to steal yours. You will not believe the ways they will find to make the numbers. There are now dozens of companies preceding GE in this re-invention game and squeezing the employees is the easiest way to make management make themselves look good. Eventually even first line managers and even second will quit rather than continue to be the hand of the devil. Employee morale will sink to unimaginable levels in inverse proportion to the stock price. In the modern world, that means management is doing a great job.
@Q8VOHpI-awz JF is a GE boy like most others in the EB+ ranks. There is nothing new he can bring in to transform. Infatuation for JF is just the "anybody but JRI" syndrome ; soon JF will become the punch bag.
GM/Delphi treated me well and GE treated me better than initially over time. My last manager was the best, she had brains and she was also fair.
In the end, I think it'll be a matter of lack of sales. What can be done when the world is saturated with Gas Turbines?
Going to miss GE and Greenville. Good opportunity, guys, I wish you the best.
For what it's worth, at some point GE stock will be worth buying but I would wait to see what Flannery has to say on 11/13 to the Investors then wait till he shows some progress. I have tried to value GE by PE, dividend, book value and so on and the best price I can come up with is between 14-17. Also remember, GE leadership has almost no credibility with investors so it is going to be a long turn around.
A lot of anger here on the pending layoffs but frankly I don't see it as greed as much as Immelt, Bolze and others left us a poorly run business that has to be fixed. You need to make money to invest in new products, machines, and so on. This will be painful.
GE is more analagous to GM, but GE won’t get bailed out by the government.
The mafia bosses inside GE are lining their pockets one last time before the fall. We’ll one day be a reading lesson for students studying corporate greed and corruption, and what not to do.
Thanks for building the hope. I think your analysis may be not exactly work for GE being a industrial giant and not a hi tech like IBM. GE may awake to even tougher reality than in the past, the competition may crush them and its executives are eating the company inside out. China is already building Aircraft engines.. New world New realities.. So far JF's vision don't seem to excite anyone on the street but himself. He should replace all executives and all seniors in every alley, same old, same old didn't work for past 2 decades.