Why GE Is Getting Out of the Kitchen

Stoves, refrigerators, and other appliances used to be the core of General Electric's business. But now the hot growth is elsewhere

BusinessWeek, May 16, 2008 — By jettisoning one of its most iconic units, General Electric (GE) would join a small but high-profile club of companies that famously parted ways with businesses once synonymous with their brand names. Companies such as IBM (IBM) and Eastman Kodak (EK) have also—either because of financial straits or tactical maneuvering—transformed themselves by letting go of ventures that once defined them.

Google and Salesforce Join to Fight Microsoft

New York Times, April 14, 2008 — Google and Salesforce.com, two of Microsoft’s most conspicuous rivals, are expanding a 10-month-old collaboration in an effort to accelerate their sales of customer management and office software to businesses.

On Monday, the two companies will announce that they have integrated Salesforce’s customer relationship management software and Google’s suite of office productivity applications, which includes e-mail, word processing and spreadsheets programs, into a single software package.

All Systems Go

How General Electric's jet-engine division in Ohio is boosting the company's business in China. A case study in advanced global strategy

Fast Company, April 11, 2008 — More than a billion people were watching late last year when the first commercial airliner ever built by a Chinese firm rolled off the assembly line in Shanghai. China's state network, CCTV, broadcast it live, a proud symbol of the country's rising technical prowess. Yet if you looked closely, there was another peacock preening. Of the 19 suppliers that collaborated on the 90-passenger regional jet, only one had its logo on the plane: General Electric, which built the engine. No surprise, perhaps, that GE subsidiary CNBC was the only foreign network permitted to cover the event.

There is no company on the globe that's better at leveraging the multiple parts of its business to feed growth than GE.

Searching for the next Dubai

An inside look at how a huge Middle Eastern company wants to remake the developing world in its hometown's image.

FORTUNE, March 1, 2008 — It's always tough driving in the wilds of East Africa. But in the tiny country of Djibouti, our driver explains, it's tougher than usual. "Djiboutian goats don't scare," he says, holding down the horn and swerving. We're driving 100 mph the wrong way down a winding road through terrain so apocalyptic that British soldiers, back when they ruled the world, nicknamed this parched earth the Furthest Shag of the Never-Never Land.

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, a slight man of 53 with rugged features and a serious face, rides shotgun. He is the founder and chairman of Dubai World, a holding company that, he says, has $100 billion in assets, including one of the world's largest port operators, a mammoth private equity house, retailer Barneys New York, and the... continue reading

The Pepsi challenge

Can this snack and soda giant go healthy? CEO Indra Nooyi says yes, but cola wars and corn prices will test her leadership.

FORTUNE, March 1, 2008 — Pepsi can have a strange effect on people. The company, that is, not the beverage. No sooner had PepsiCo president Indra Nooyi gotten word 18 months ago that she was to become the next CEO than she hopped on a plane to Cape Cod, where Mike White, her main challenger for the job, was vacationing. The two had worked together for years. Both had been CFOs and rising stars. Both loved music. When they'd been kicked out of a board meeting the previous month while their fates were being discussed, they went to the Jersey Boys musical on Broadway and sang along to all the Frankie Valli songs.

As Nooyi's plane landed on Cape Cod, there was White waiting for her at the airport with a card he'd written to congratulate her. They took a long walk on the beach. Back... continue reading

Discover Needs Plastic Surgery

Fears of a consumer slowdown have hurt its stock, but the credit-card issuer's big problem is its image

BusinessWeek, November 29, 2007 — Discover Financial Services (DFS) couldn't have picked a worse time to become an independent company. The credit-card issuer, which was spun off from Morgan Stanley (MS) on June 30, collided head-on with a credit crunch and mounting fears about a slowdown in consumer spending. In five months the stock has sunk more than 40%.

After the Virgin Birth

Fred Reid, CEO of the fledgling carrier Virgin America, talks management strategy and explains his beef with airline food

Fast Company, November 1, 2007 — Fred Reid looks as if he could have played John Glenn in The Right Stuff. But the CEO of Virgin America--the new low-cost airline partly backed (but fully branded) by British entrepreneur Richard Branson--is a character all his own. As the president of Delta (NYSE:DAL), he launched the ill-fated, low-cost Song. (What did he learn from the experience? "Damn little," he says.) As the president and COO of Lufthansa (OTC:DLAKY), he was the first American to lead a major non-U.S. carrier. We caught up with the razor-tongued Reid, 57, in New York, one of the five cities his airline currently serves.

Room & Board Plays Impossible To Get

Private equity sees big growth for the retailer, but founder John Gabbert prefers his own pace

BusinessWeek, October 1, 2007 — By all conventional standards, Room & Board should be bigger than it is. The Minneapolis-based furniture retailer, which runs just nine stores, has a devoted base of customers who rave about its hip design and customer service on message boards and blogs. Its sleek styles, priced between the highbrow midcentury classics at retailer Design Within Reach and the flat-pack furniture from Ikea, are often featured in magazines alongside brands several times its size.

No, the CEO Isn't Sir Richard Branson†

Virgin Atlantic's Ridgway Balances Profit, Innovation and Keeps the Planes on Time

Wall Street Journal, July 30, 2007 — Sir Richard Branson is the founder, chairman and brash public face of British carrier Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. But Chief Executive Steve Ridgway is the one who quietly keeps the airline running.

From Virgin's founding in 1984 with a promise to be a different kind of airline, it has grown into one of the world's most unusual carriers. It flies only long routes and offers more amenities than most rivals. Its "Upper Class" premium cabin — a blend of first- and business-class — grabs attention with innovations like inflight manicures and complimentary limo rides to and from airports.

Chief of Universal Finds Success at the Back of the Pack

Though profitable for the last nine years, Universal has been noticeably short on blockbusters to call its own. And that is largely by design

New York Times, July 16, 2007 — The hilltop theme park outside the 14th floor office of Ron Meyer, president of the Universal Studios Group, anchored by past glories like its “Jurassic Park” and “Backdraft” rides, could stand a makeover.