1. What advantages does General Electric seek to attain from its international business activities?
2. What actions is it taking to gain these advantages from its international activities?
3. What risks does GE face in its foreign operations?
4. What profit opportunities for GE can arise out of those risks?

One of General Electric’s key growth initiatives is to globalize its business. According to its website, “Globalization no longer refers only to selling goods and services in global markets. Today’s most valuable innovations and solutions are envisioned, designed, built and offered on a global scale.’’
A critical element of General Electric’s global strategy is to be first or second in the world in a business or to exit that business. For example, in 1987, GE swapped its RCA consumer electronics division for Thomson CGR, the medical equipment business of Thomson SA of France, to strengthen its own medical unit. Together with GE Medical Systems Asia (GEMSA) in Japan, CGR makes GE number one in the world market for X-ray, CAT scan, magnetic resonance, ultrasound, and other diagnostic imaging devices, ahead of Siemens (Germany), Philips (Netherlands), and Toshiba (Japan).