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F. Thomas
Analysis of the General Electric Company
INTRODUCTION
The General Electric Company (GE) is ranked among Fortune 500 as the 6th largest firm in the U.S. by gross profit as well as the 14th most profitable, #7 for executives, #5 best global brand, #82 green companies, #13 most respected companies and #19 most innovated firms.
GE divisions include GE Capital, GE Energy, GE Technology Infrastructure and GE Home and Business Solutions. Through these divisions, GE is able to participate in a wide variety of markets, from industrial to lending and insurance. It sells a variety of products like lighting, industrial automation, medical imaging, motors, railway locomotives, jet engines and transmission/distribution of electricity. The company is headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut and incorporated in Schenectady, New York. It employed 301,000 (131,000 in the U.S.) people as of December 2011. (http://www.ge.com/ar2011/pdf/GE-20120224-10K-20111231.pdf)
The company recorded revenues of $142.24 billion during the financial year ended December 2011 (FY2011) this is a 4.58% decrease from FY2010. The decrease in net sales for FY2011 reflects the impact of the current economy here in the U.S. The operating profit of the company was $14.07 billion in FY2011, an increase of 8.9% over 2010. The net profit was $1.45 billion in FY2011. (http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/ge/financials)
HISTORY OF THE COMPANY
GE was founded in 1878 by Thomas Edison in Menlo Park, NJ. In 1890 Edison started a company to bring all of his various businesses under one roof and named it Edison General Electric Company. General Electric Company was founded in 1892 with the merger of Edison Electric Company and the Thomas-Houston Electric Company, this move was
