GES RESEARCH-AND-DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY - BE VITAL

During much of the 20th century GE used corporate-level R&D mainly to improve the performance of products or occasionally to create new ones . In the past ten years, global competition has forced GE corporate R& D, without sacrificing performance and innovation, to also emphasize s peed, low cost and high quality To do this, it has made a number of fu ndamental changes in the way it operates. Those changes range from its funding system, to the way of thinking and speaking about its place i n GE, to its mission statement and strategy. The people of corporate R &D are becoming leaders of GE's vital corporate initiatives of the 199 0s: globalization, quality and growth through services.