{"id":516039,"date":"2010-04-05T10:45:32","date_gmt":"2010-04-05T14:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gereports.com\/?p=5567"},"modified":"2010-04-05T10:45:32","modified_gmt":"2010-04-05T14:45:32","slug":"forging-a-new-model-in-india-a-john-flannery-qa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/516039","title":{"rendered":"Forging a new model in India: A John Flannery Q&A"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span>Having recently taken the newly created role of president and CEO of GE’s business operations in India, John Flannery\u2019s job is to consolidate all businesses into one team with an integrated strategy in the critically important country. Since GE’s business leaders have traditionally reported to their respective GE business divisions in countries such as India, we asked John to tell us what the changes will mean:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
\nA mini-GE:<\/span> \u201cIndia is growing quickly and literally every sector of the economy has needs,\u201d John said. \u201cEverywhere you look there is a lot of demand and opportunity for growth.\u201d<\/div>\n

What is GE doing to make India more of a focus in its global strategy?<\/strong>
\nJohn: In the past, the teams in India reported back to the GE team outside of India. Instead of having decision making in other parts of the world, we\u2019re building an organization of businesses in India that will report to me and we will be able to make more decisions on the ground. The center of gravity will move towards India, it will be like a mini GE. It\u2019s important to underscore that this is not a walling off of India from the rest of the company. It\u2019s really the best of both worlds: Local decision-making and access to the global firepower of research and product ideas.<\/p>\n

What challenges does GE face in India that are different from other developing countries?<\/strong>
\nJohn: Broadly speaking we want to go where the opportunities are. The primary areas of opportunity are in infrastructure, energy, healthcare and water and clearly financial services. There is rising demand and a capacity shortage. There is demand in transportation infrastructure in both aircraft and locomotives.<\/p>\n

We are seeing strong and growing local competitors in India and China. Multinationals can\u2019t pick and choose to only compete with other multinationals. The challenge is how to compete locally. Right now, in manufacturing, we have strong capabilities at our healthcare business in India, so we need to look at our manufacturing strategy overall and deliver a low cost channel that can be competitive in this environment.<\/p>\n

We need to be in a competitive position with localized products at lower price points and simpler technology. India is driving access to low-tech medical devices that are available to many more people versus devices with state of the art dynamics.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nLocal tech:<\/span> One of GE\u2019s major research labs is located in Bangalore, India. Says John: \u201cWe\u2019ve developed a stripped-down ECG (The MAC 400 portable electrocardiograph) device at a fraction of the usual cost. It\u2019s something that every physician in the country can have even in the most remote places.\u201d<\/div>\n

How does the Indian way of doing business differ from business in the U.S.?<\/strong>
\nJohn: One of the characteristics of Indian business is its model of innovation and creativity. They developed new business models for the entire outsourcing industry. They admirably make fast-paced and quick decisions and that\u2019s a way of business we have to emulate. We need to engineer products at low price points and have the ability to customize our business models.<\/p>\n

Essentially, many of their businesses are family-run, publicly listed companies. Quite often they are controlled by the family and run with the small business instinct of a family business. They\u2019re able to move to the left or right very rapidly.<\/p>\n

What has been some of your previous experience in 22 years at GE?<\/strong>
\nJohn: In the late 90\u2019s I had an overseas assignment (CEO GE Capital Argentina and Chile) in South America and was based in Argentina. I have been President and CEO of GE Capital Asia Pacific and CEO of GE Commercial Finance, Asia.<\/p>\n

What are some of the things you\u2019ve learned that you can bring to your new role in India?<\/strong>
\nJohn: There are a couple of things that jump out at me. It\u2019s dangerous to assume that there is only one way to be successful. I\u2019ve seen time and time again that there are many other ways of accomplishing things and I\u2019m very open-minded about the potential of getting things done in different ways. We need to be open to the local mindset and letting go of always doing things in the traditional way.<\/p>\n

In financial services there\u2019s a business practice of giving a personal check as security for taking out a loan. In the United States we\u2019d say this is a meaningless personal check with no value. But in India, it\u2019s a very personal commitment, an oath of extreme importance and real commercial value. Lenders have something significant to look at.<\/p>\n

As CEO, what are your short-term priorities and goals?<\/strong>
\nJohn: Right now, we have several billion dollars in sales, but we ought to be several times bigger. I come from financial services, so in the very short term my priorities are learning about the other businesses in the organization, firming up what we have, and expanding the organization\u2019s capabilities.<\/p>\n

What are India\u2019s biggest needs as they relate to GE?<\/strong>
\nJohn: Two things that have struck me are the oil and gas and water businesses. It looks like there can be a lot of growth in oil and gas exploration and production. We\u2019ll definitely turn up the heat and focus on finding local partners.<\/p>\n

In the water business, there is a chronic shortage of water at the consumer and industrial level. We\u2019re competing for industrial reuse. It\u2019s a very small business today and if we play our cards right, it could become a big business.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nBetting big on R&D:<\/span> Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in R&D at GE in the last decade, resulting in a dramatic expansion of GE Global Research’s labs in Bangalore, India.<\/div>\n

Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
\n* \u201cReverse Innovation hits Harvard\u2019s most influential list<\/a>\u201d
\n* \u201cReverse innovation: How GE is disrupting itself<\/a>\u201d
\n* \u201cReverse innovation: Building GE\u2019s local growth model<\/a>\u201d
\n* \u201cWinning micro customers in mega markets<\/a>\u201d
\n* \u201cLocalized breakthroughs go global<\/a>\u201d
\n* \u201cCracking the thin film solar code in GE\u2019s 4 global labs<\/a>\u201d
\n* “Cheers! To a decade of innovation at GE\u2019s labs<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

* Read Joe Leahy\u2019s story, \u201cIndia: A nation develops<\/a>,\u201d in The Financial Times<\/em>
\n* Read coverage of John\u2019s new role via Bloomberg<\/a><\/p>\n

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Having recently taken the newly created role of president and CEO of GE’s business operations in India, John Flannery\u2019s job is to consolidate all businesses into one team with an integrated strategy in the critically important country. Since GE’s business leaders have traditionally reported to their respective GE business divisions in countries such as India, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4069,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-516039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4069"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516039\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}