By John Rice
GE Infrastructure

GE’s seven Infrastructure businesses represent 40% of the overall organization. We employ 100,000 people worldwide and are entering more new markets than ever in our history. We will spend almost $2.5 billion on new product developments in 2008 alone.

Step back and look at the breadth and depth of the work we do in Aviation, Rail, Energy, Oil & Gas, Water, Commercial Aviation Services and Energy Financial Services. Now consider some of the world’s most urgent needs: clean water, affordable energy and practical transportation solutions for growing populations. These are all very basic, very important needs. And they are all areas in which GE’s Infrastructure businesses are leading the way.

Investors look at global needs as opportunities to increase earnings, and they measure our value accordingly. Prospective employees look at the work we do and see a chance to solve real problems and make a positive impact. Current employees look at the organization and see tremendous personal development opportunities. Governments and corporations look at our technologies and experience and see ways to improve their own performance. There is a lot riding on our ability to invest and deliver – to choose the right paths and produce the best solutions.

For our Oil & Gas business, our strategic imperatives boil down to four key areas. First, we must improve the conversion rate in our key technology programs. We are extremely proud of the new products we’ve developed – but there is always room for improvement. At this level, every improvement creates new solutions. So this is a key priority for us. We also need to keep growing our service platform. We’ve made tremendous strides increasing the level of skill and support resources available to our customers; introducing new much-needed service packages, particularly for larger units and aging plants; and expanding the benefits of remote monitoring and diagnostics.

We will continue developing adjacencies. The VetcoGray acquisition is perhaps the best recent example of success with this strategy. Exceptional adjacencies like this go far beyond our own bottom line, and make a lasting, direct impact on the science and solutions available to the industry as a whole.

Finally, we must continue expanding our global footprint. There is much talk these days about globalization; much talk of localization too. One perspective is that they are entirely different philosophies. Our perspective is that they are intrinsically entwined. At the corporate level, GE is a global organization. We look at our business from 50,000 feet in the air to see how all the pieces interact and help one another. At the same time, our bird’s eye view isn’t of practical value to most customers. They don’t care if we’re global – they need us to be local. They need our feet on the street next to theirs. So this is where our Oil & Gas operations and decision-making authority is moving in order for us to respond faster and with better solutions all the time.

As nations work to translate the value of their natural resources into sustainable wealth for all stakeholders, a crucial part of our involvement is to make ethically and practically sound contributions. This is why we invest so diligently to build lasting infrastructure, develop local talent, and work with local suppliers to broaden the potential for economic growth.
Our global view helps us do all these local activities more effectively – managing our combined resources, developing service strengths and capitalizing on the technological synergies across all our businesses.

Looking back, 2007 was an exciting year of growth in all its forms. Looking forward, there are many more problems we can solve for countries and companies and people who have real needs.