Jack Welch and Jeffrey Immelt - Continuity and Change in Strategy, Style and Culture at GE

Jeffrey Immelt (Immelt) became the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the General Electric Company (GE) on September 7, 2001, drawing to a close one of the longest³ succession planning programs in corporate America.

Immelt succeeded Jack Welch (Welch), who was generally acknowledged as one of the most successful CEOs in business history for his management of GE in the twenty years he headed the company. On September 11, 2001, just four days after Immelt finally stepped into the job that he had been in training for almost a year, the infamous terrorist attack took place, when hijackers crashed planes into the Pentagon and the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

It was an inauspicious beginning for Immelt. As a huge, diversified company, GE had interests in several sensitive industries like aircraft engines, plastics and insurance, which were sure to suffer the after-effects of September 11. 

The terrorist attacks were a harbinger of bad times to come for GE. As of early 2006, in the four and a half years that he had headed GE, Immelt had had to deal with a series of problems.

By 2002, GE's share price had fallen to levels much below its peak in early 2001, and even by mid 2006, showed no significant improvement (Refer Exhibit I for GE's share price).