Module 12: Critical Thinking Assignment
The “World’s Most Admired Company”
In this module, the role of the corporate headquarters in a multibusiness company — in particular, how the corporate headquarters can create value for the individual businesses. This necessitates examining the role of the corporate headquarters and its relations with individual businesses. For this week’s assignment, review CASE 13
How Do You Solve a Problem Like General Electric?, Chapter 13 (in your textbook).
Remember: A case study is a puzzle to be solved, so before reading and answering the specific case study questions, develop your proposed solution by following these five steps:
1. Read the case study to identify the key issues and underlying issues. These issues are the principles and concepts of the course module, which apply to the situation described in the case study.
2. Record the facts from the case study which are relevant to the principles and concepts of the module. The case may have extraneous information not relevant to the current course module. Your ability to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information is an important aspect of case analysis, as it will inform the focus of your answers.
3. Describe in some detail the actions that would address or correct the situation.
4. Consider how you would support your solution with examples from experience or current real-life examples or cases from textbooks.
5. Complete this initial analysis and then read the discussion questions. Typically, you will already have the answers to the questions but with a broader consideration. At this point, you can add the details and/or analytical tools required to solve the case.
Case Study Questions:
6. What were the key challenges faced by General Electric in the early 2000s, and how did the company respond to these challenges?
7. How did General Electric’s corporate strategy change under the leadership of Jeff Immelt, and what were the implications of these changes for the company’s various business units?
8. What role did divestitures play in General Electric’s corporate strategy, and how did the company decide which businesses to sell off?
9. How did General Electric allocate resources across its various business units, and what factors influenced these resource allocation decisions?
10. How did General Electric leverage synergies across its different businesses, and what benefits did this approach offer the company?
Your well-written paper should meet the following requirements:
Be 4 to 5 pages in length, which does not include the required title and reference pages, which are never a part of the content minimum requirements.
Use Saudi Electronic University academic writing standards and APA style guidelines.
Support your submission with course material concepts, principles, and theories from the textbook and at least two scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles unless the assignment calls for more.
