General Electric case summary with five key facts

General Electric Company case -- There are five central themes that were identified that would support GE in order to persevere and establish a long-term franchise. These themes included: to build strong businesses; put investment in services, innovation, and globalization; to focus on areas of potential opportunity; to drive competitiveness through cutting costs; and be remaining committed to people.

There are three key issues associated with concerns regarding GE's strategies for future stability and growth of the company. The first issue involved financial uncertainty due to the risk presented by shrinking GE capital. There were questions regarding how cohesive the company was in regards to the relationship between the industrial and financial aspects of the company especially following the company's loss of their triple -- A credit rating.

A second issue of concern regarded the growth strategies under development by GE. Specifically, some critics showed concern as to whether the suggested organic growth strategies based in innovation and opportunity would be able to generate growth in profits over the long-term comparable to growth that had been generated by GE capital in the past.

A third and final issue involved the organizational complexity that resulted from the development of business opportunities requiring high levels of coordination. These business opportunities involved the development and sales of entire systems of services and products. This increased complexity resulted in difficulty in implementing these business developments.

The core competence of GE is its history and reputation as the world's most successful company, and its ability to effectively combine huge size with continual change and adaptation. The firm's strategies are based in the concept of always seizing opportunities for innovation. The company could be more successful in its strategies by implementing change at a slower pace, allowing for complexities to be ironed out and supporting smoother transitions.

A recommendation as to how GE could strategize differently would be for the company to put more interest and efforts towards the development of smaller opportunities that show promise of evolving into something more. By only focusing on the development of whole systems, GE is limiting themselves with regards to establishing new "growth engines." Instead of working only with whole systems involved in industries, GE could return to focusing on certain aspects of systems for development. This would help to simplify operations, reducing organizational complexity, and possibly increasing potential profits and internal growth.

Euro Disney Case - There are three key issues present in the Euro Disney case study. The first key issue is that in the year 1994, The Euro Disney theme park demonstrated a substantial loss totaling 1.8 billion French Francs. This sparked efforts to increase profits and decrease expenses in order to avoid closure. Marketers aimed to raise attendance numbers to the park by launching an advertisement campaign, introducing a new ride and by presenting the park with a new name -- Disneyland Paris.

The second key issue involved the issues of demand and competition regarding Euro Disney. Financial projections for Euro Disney speculated that there was great market potential for Euro Disney. Factors influencing these projections included the massive population living in proximity to the park, as well as the conduciveness of European vacation patterns to visiting the park. However, competition existed in the forms of other family entertainment destinations, as well as the cultural and historical experiences offered by several cities in Europe.