John Flannery, in a candid interview, talks about GE missing the bus in India, rural opportunities and what lies ahead
The GE Capital veteran, John Flannery, is stepping into the role of India president and chief executive officer at a rather critical juncture. As he himself says, “In this ‘reset world’ succeeding in fast-growth emerging markets is not a ‘nice to have’ — it’s going to be ‘oxygen’ for any global company going forward.” Succeeding in India is critical for GE and a lot will depend on how Flannery cracks open the opportunity. In this email interview with Malini Goyal and Neelima Mahajan-Bansal, Flannery shares his vision for GE India. Excerpts:
All eyes are on you as you take over the top job in India, as this signals a big shift in GE's India strategy. Going forward, what is your agenda for GE India? What will your top three-four priorities be?
Our overall agenda is to become a much bigger player in India than we have been historically. As much as India has grown in the past decade, it is still in the very early stages of its long-term development. To achieve our agenda, we will be focused on enhancing our local product development and marketing capability, expanding our technology and manufacturing base and seeking to partner with leading Indian companies where that makes sense. As with any successful organisation, making sure we attract, develop and retain the absolutely best human resources is of paramount importance.
How does your appointment change things for GE India? What difference will the "One GE" approach make for GE India? Why was this important and critical step in GE's India growth strategy?
On the margin, of course, my appointment is of limited importance. However, running the organisation directly from India as “One GE” is a very significant evolution. Our theory is that by concentrating more resources and decision- making in India we will be able to better serve local customer needs and ultimately achieve faster growth. We also hope that by conceiving and developing products for the Indian market, we can in turn use those products to penetrate more mature markets outside of India. This is the “reverse innovation” concept you saw our chairman, Jeff Immelt write about recently in the Harvard Business Review. We will still have deep connections with our global organisation, but the “center of gravity” will move towards India.