International Business

respond to discussion questions with at least two paragraph, intext citations and refernces.

General Electric (GE) has shifted its strategy for entering foreign markets in the past 10 years from one of acquisition or greenfield ventures to that of joint ventures. GE now routinely will form joint ventures with companies within the foreign market it wishes to enter. This partnership benefits both GE and the host country’s firm. An example of recent joint venture for GE that has resulted in benefits for both parties involved is the 2011 partnership between GE and the Aviation Industry of China (AVIC). This joint venture granted GE access to the world’s second largest and thriving economy while in return AVIC received high technology, specifically advanced flight simulators (Schneider, 2011). This is just one example of what assets GE brings to joint venture.

General Electric in some form or fashion has been in existence since the early 19th century, the company has a solid reputation, and according to Fortune magazine GE is currently one of the world’s most admired companies (Fortune 2012). When entering into a joint venture with GE, the company brings to the table an established history, a good reputation, a strong organizational structure, technological knowledge, specific mechanical knowledge, a firm US connection, and a strong employee workforce.

Hill, C. (2012). International business. (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Schneider, H. (2011). GE “all in on aviation deal with China. The Washington Post. Retrieved

Emilly Bikowski

General Electric (GE) brings to the table an organization that is capable and dominant in a variety of different industries and markets. In order to be successful in so many different areas, the company has been able to leverage its many invaluable competitive advantages to attract partners for joint ventures. GE prides itself on driving rigor, operational excellence, and enhancing customer value. GE is currently involved in nearly 40 high impact projects that will help increase speed to market, improve the quality of products and services, significantly reducing costs, and driving competitive advantage for customers and the company (GE Advantage, 2013, para. 1).

In addition to its reputation for being a good partner, GE is well known for its innovative management techniques and excellent management development programs. Many partners are only too happy to team up with GE to get access to this know-how (Hill, 2013, p. 512). Not only does GE have technological know-how, but the ability to provide state of the art leadership and management skills. The ability to provide quality management is a force multiplier for its marketability and intangible value. GE’s management has demonstrated its adeptness to make GE what it has become today. This is an invaluable asset that can be instantaneously benefited from during the establishment of the business relationship.

When organizations look to GE as a potential partner, they quickly realize the size of the organization and vast numbers of resources the organization can bring to the partnership, if needed. GE Ventures combines capital, technical and commercial expertise, infrastructure, and the GE global network of businesses and partners to scale great ideas while driving growth for our start-up partners and GE (GE Ventures, 2013, para. 1). GE can leverage its unique proprietary knowledge from around the company to help joint ventures become successful. Potential partners also know that if the joint venture is to become successful, GE will be able to handle its financial end of the partnership.

Another competitive advantage and asset(s) that GE brings to the table is that it is already a globally established organization. GE-led technical and commercial resources can help companies grow and scale via access to not only capital, but expertise, its global network of business units, partners and customers, world-class training, resources and flexibility, all of which can help reduce development cycles and accelerate time to market (GE Ventures, 2013, para. 3). For a new joint venture, this is yet another attractive quality that can lead to new business opportunities for a company choosing to partner with GE. Particularly gaining access to new customers and markets that GE is already involved in order to increase market share opportunities. It comes as no surprise that GE, normally the dominant company in a joint venture would prefer to enter new markets alone, but utilizing joint partners provides door opening opportunities that might otherwise be closed or difficult to exploit without agreeing to remain a minority partnership.

General Electric. (2013). GE Advantage. General Electric. Retrieved July 31, 2013 from http://www.ge.com/b2b/advantage.

General Electric. (2013). GE Ventures. General Electric. Retrieved July 31, 2013 from http://www.ge.com/about-us/ge-ventures.

Hill, C. (2013). International business: Competing in the global marketplace. (9th ed.). New York, NY: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.

Shawn hill