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To: Annette who wrote (16411)	5/10/1999 9:38:00 AM
From: Scott Kleinhans	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 27722

Annette you'll like this.. I found it on the Yahoo VVTV thread. Fairfield, Connecticut, May 9 (Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co. Chairman John Welch Jr., whose 107-year-old company sprang from the U.S. Industrial Revolution, unveiled how GE will embrace the next century: electronic commerce. He calls the strategy DestroyYourBusiness.com. The phrase refers to the revolutionary effect that e- commerce and the Internet will have on the sale and distribution of such GE products as appliances, plastics and financial services. As more goods are bought electronically by consumers and businesses, Welch wants to make sure GE is doing the selling. Analysts who heard Welch introduce the strategy last week liken it to the rule he established early in his tenure: exit any business in which GE isn't ranked No. 1 or No. 2. ''This is the new religion at GE,'' said Prudential Securities Inc. analyst Nicholas Heymann, who has a ''strong buy'' rating on the stock. ''The message here is if you don't have your organization focused on how much (e-commerce) will change your overall distribution, sales and marketing, then you're in trouble.'' GE's market value has risen more than $300 billion during Welch's 18-year tenure, and is second only to Microsoft Corp.'s. Viewed by some as one of the best chief executives in the U.S., Welch once called himself a ''Neanderthal'' when it comes to the Internet. Now he's encouraging managers to hire technology-savvy young bloods to help infuse GE with knowledge of the World Wide Web, said analysts who heard Welch unveil the strategy at a closed-door meeting in Florida. Technology Savvy ''He's taking younger people who are more technology versed and putting them to the task of reinventing business models, really shaking up the status quo,'' said Salomon Smith Barney Inc. analyst Jeffrey Sprague, who has an ''outperform'' rating on the stock. ''The message (is) that this is going to be the world business model, and they want to be in front of that.'' GE's plastics unit, for example, introduced its trading site in February and it now generates $1.5 million in sales weekly. Customers order plastics used in everything from computer monitors to compact discs. They can even buy plastic from other manufacturers that GE doesn't make, said GE Plastics spokesman Bob Hess. The plastics division generated $6.6 billion of GE's $100.5 billion in revenue last year. Changing Market Channels GE's e-commerce ventures are likely to include such services as automatic notification of customers that their supply of parts is low, and hawking merchandise through its NBC television network, analysts said. The Internet ''will change market channels -- the way businesses go to market,'' Welch said at the company's annual shareholders meeting last month. ''It's the most exciting thing that I've seen in business.'' Welch already has most of GE's 11 main businesses involved in e-commerce in some form -- from providing software and systems for business-to-business trading to its MSNBC joint venture with Microsoft Corp., which provides news programs through cable television and the World Wide Web. GE Capital, the world's largest non-bank finance company, and NBC have dozens of investments in Internet companies, including Snap, the portal service it co-owns with Cnet Inc., and IVillage Inc., an online service aimed at women, as well as the car-shopping Web site autobytel.com. GE Equity, the investment arm of GE Capital, has about 15 percent of its $1 billion portfolio in ''early stage'' technology companies, said Michael Pralle, the division's president, in a recent interview. GE Equity often co-invests with NBC. And the company's GE Information Services unit provides electronic trading systems for 50,000 businesses -- about 15,000 of them through the Internet, said GEIS spokesman John Berry. Shares of Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE rose 1 11/16 to 109 15/16 on Friday.