In the 90s it was the darling of other executives of corporation. The rise (fall) of GE was authored by JackWelch. He was a business icon.
Now we know that GEs growth was misdirected and somehowe the followers were scammed. The industrial giant became an unfoccussed giant. GE thus grew from $18 b when Welch took over to over $400+. It was all over the place: health care, consumer finance, insurance, energy, light bulb, jet engines, railroad, power gen. etc.
It may have sapped management energy and focus. Worst of all, iit was disclosed that to pursue acquistion, employees were"yanked" The money saved fro wages was used for acquistion.
Thus when Welch left, he left shell companies, devoid of human resources. Wtih nothing to continue acquisition, GE stood still and evenually declined.
The big blow came in 2008 when there was the financial crisis and its huge consumer finance debt required a huge bail outl. GE was forced to stop paying dividends and sell off subsidiaries. And GE no longer was its usual self under Welch.
Yesterdays heroes can be today's villain. And Welch no longer engyoys the adulation he used to get from his followers.
