GE one of Fortune's most admired companies

MANILA, Philippines - A testament to its continuing commitment and excellence in turning imaginative ideas into reality and its resilience in weathering financial challenges, diversified conglomerate GE (General Electric) retained its hold as one of Fortune magazine’s most admired companies in 2008. 

Overall, GE ranked as the No. 9 Most Admired Company across all industries in the world. GE shared this elite list with Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Toyota, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Federal Express, Southwest Airlines and Microsoft.

GE has bagged Fortune’s top citation in the highly competitive electronics category two years in a row and has consistently been in the top 10 of the magazine’s most admired list since 2005.

In the annual listing of the world’s best in business, much credit was given to GE’s conviction to remain a business powerhouse. GE is continually featured as a leader in various publications for its performance, leadership development, diversity and sustainability.

With chairman of the board and CEO Jeff Immelt’s resoluteness in overcoming the challenges faced by the company, which ranged from gaining access to the US government’s funding program to office cost-cutting measures, GE posted earnings of $18.1 billion in 2008, its third largest in the entire history of GE.

GE showed resilience by adopting corporate coping mechanisms — focusing on the underlying strengths of its diverse portfolio of businesses (which range from wind turbines to medical imaging devices to TV network NBC), leadership and talent development and in pursuing its long-term investment plans in technology and R&D. The latter’s success was manifested in breakthrough products for the company.

Immelt, cited as one of the world’s best CEOs, acknowledges that GE had already built a foundation to weather economic storms, but emphasized a more important issue: emerging out of the challenge as a more relevant and stronger company. He presented two key areas of success platforms: sustaining its competitive advantage and further building strong businesses.   To this end, GE is poised to continue global investment in renewable energy projects, technology and content innovation and fuel “ecomagination” efforts and imagination breakthroughs.

GE’s latest accolade emphasizes its positive contribution to the ASEAN and Philippine business environment. “We remain bullish on the continued growth of GE’s diverse businesses in emerging markets like the ASEAN region,” says Colin Low, GE president for Philippines, Singapore and Cambodia/regional executive for Growth Initiatives, ASEAN. 

With the global economic crisis hitting multinational companies (MNCs) on the local front, GE’s stability is foreseen to continue with its key businesses remaining stable. “We remain positive that we can all live up to the challenge, especially with the dedication and passion of a dynamic pool of GE talents in the Philippines,” Low adds.