GE 2013 Annual Report Download - page 7

marketplace for progress, ideas, and
the capability to export their goods.
GE is an excellent partner as coun-
tries grow. For instance, we opened a
new business-process center in Saudi
Arabia that will employ thousands
of local women. This is good for GE,
while making us an integral part of
the Kingdom’s economy. Last year,
growth market orders passed $40 bil-
lion and grew by 11%. Our revenues
exceed $1 billion in 24 countries.
GE wins by delivering customer pro-
ductivity. We understand the domain
in which our customers operate.
Our customers want outcomes: more
power, better fuel burn, no unplanned
downtime. We deliver these outcomes.
For instance, we have an innovation
for our power generation customers,
called the Advanced Gas Path. This
is a control and software upgrade to
our installed base. Implementing this
technology will extend our custom-
ers’ operating parameters, delivering
a 30% reduction in downtime and
saving fuel. We have a service backlog
of $180 billion, aligned with achieving
customer productivity.
We can leverage our enterprise advan-
tages as we win in new infrastructure
markets, like Oil & Gas. We have grown
this business from a “standing start”
to nearly $20 billion in 15 years. We
invest on the premise that the oil and
gas industry will require the same
technical intensity and execution as
Aviation, where GE leads. We can
draw on the “GE store”— gas turbine
technology, aviation materials, health-
care imaging, global capability — to
solve customer problems. To win in Oil
& Gas, we have increased our R&D,
built research centers in Oklahoma City
and Brazil, and launched innovative
solutions in areas like advanced subsea
systems and enhanced oil recovery.
We are investing in new manufac-
turing capacity in Angola, Indonesia,
Brazil and Russia. Through our
service offerings, we give our custom-
ers resilient systems that improve their
output. Our ability to turn enterprise
capabilities into profi table growth is
valuable to investors.
The balance of our portfolio is a valu-
able specialty fi nance franchise, which
we have decided to make smaller. We
settled the remaining liabilities of our
former Japanese consumer fi nance
business. This business had been
a fi nancial drag on the Company, and
our exit is a positive for investors.
And, we announced a planned split-off
of our Retail Finance business in a
capital-effi cient process beginning in
We have a set of enterprise initiatives
that capitalize on our scale and ability
to spread ideas horizontally across
GE. These initiatives are customized
for infrastructure and allow us to lead
in both share and margins. We invest
more than $10 billion each year to
reinforce this leadership.
GE wins with technology. We
invest 5%–6% of revenue back into
new products every year. Technology
creates competitive advantage and
margins. We spread ideas through
our Global Research Center with
six locations around the world. Our
products must be both innovative
and economical. I ran our Healthcare
business in the late ’90s, and we sold
three types of MR scanners; today we
sell many more with differentiated
customer benefi ts. We know how to
deliver the best technology at every
price point with high margins.
GE wins in growth markets. We
know how to be both global and
local. Most countries want the same
things — competitive capabilities
that create jobs, sense of pride
and progress that lifts all people up.
They want to tap into the global
TOTAL BACKLOG GROWTH
2005 2007 2009 2011 2013
$200B
$175B
$158B
$110B
$244B
In 2013, our backlog of goods and services
grew to its highest ever, driven by strong
customer demand around the world.
GE 2013 ANNUAL REPORT 5