InternetWeek,18.dec, 2000, Gary Reiner; "...There are three different areas the Internet has large impact in GE: the buy side, make side and sell side.

On the buy side, we're doing a ton of e-auctioning across the board. We're putting so much of what we do on the Web in terms of interacting with our suppliers and in terms of negotiations. And that really is changing how we think about sourcing. (...)On the buy side, we separate the world into the negotiation process and the transaction process.

There are three areas on the sell side, and we're trying to get more productivity out of all three.

There's the actual taking of the order. There's providing through the Web all of the information surrounding the order--order status, track and trace information, stock availability, the ability to configure complex orders. And then additional value-added customer services that were traditionally provided either through call centers or not provided at all, are now provided on the Web through something we call Wizards. On the sell side, it's had a very big impact in GE Plastics. It's had a very big impact on some of the capital businesses, like fleet se

The challenge is to coordinate e-business endeavors among GE's 20 far-flung units, including Appliances, Aircraft, Capital, Lighting, Medical Systems, Plastics, Power Systems and Transportation Systems. E-business leaders in these groups hold monthly interactive teleconferences, using PC screen emulators to demonstrate new Internet applications for buying, selling, customer care, manufacturing, logistics and fulfillment.

We've become pretty good at using size to our advantage. Size gives you the ability to experiment, to take risks because you're not going to sink yourself." - John F. Welch Chairman and CEO General Electric Co.

3. Evaluate GE's Internet Initiative. Is it successful? Is the company transforming itself into a digital form? Why or why not?

The internet initiative started by trying to change GE's culture at the very top. GE's internal newsletters and many of Welch's memos became available only on line. There were computer kiosks installed on factory floors. Every GE employee was given training.

"It turns out that all the work that GE did to break down the bureaucracy and create a culture of sharing was wonderful preparation for e-commerce," said Merrill Lynch's Terrile. Drastic changes in mindset resulting from that period - such as measuring fulfillment performance based not on how well GE meets its own objectives but on how well it meets customer needs - have moved through GE rather quickly because each idea cuts a path that the next one can follow.

2. What management, organization, and technology issues did GE have to address in its Internet initiative?

4. It's said the large companies move too slowly to profit from the Internet economy. Is it possible for GE to keep up with smal

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