The case of General Electric (GE) is one that all businesses must closely follow. The present business scenario is full of two kinds of people dominating. One are the deep pocketed but clueless activist investors. Others are those apparently building the corporate strategy while in reality being keener on Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) activity. GE was held almost at gunpoint by the demands of Trian which is an activist hedge fund. GE CEO Jeff Immelt had to resort to a resignation. He had spearheaded an era of heavy M&A activity, many of which did not work out. One is now seeing a trend of rejuggling the corporate portfolio among large, modern corporations. M&A activity works only when it is designed to improve the overall experience of the customer. Cases in point being Google’s acquisition of Android, P&G buying Tambrands or Instagram getting acquired by Facebook. Most get their acquisition strategy wrong as they are simply poor attempts at troubleshooting. The GE Healthcare and Baker Hughes is one such abysmal failure. This combination of toxic investors and the M&A guys is at the heart of many business worries now.

Source:https://hbr.org/2018/06/ges-fall-has-been-accelerated-by-two-problems-most-other-big-companies-face-them-too?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_monthly&utm_campaign=finance_activesubs_dalertnlsubs&utm_content=signinnudge&referral=00209&deliveryName=DM10732

Uploaded Date:02 August 2018