A financial health analysis of the General Electric Company (GE) is presented. The three major sections of the analysis are (1) economic climate, (2) industry analysis, and (3) firm analysis.
             The economic climate is reviewed in the past, present, and probable future conditions. GE is the world's largest diversified company and operates globally. Thus, the economic climate must be considered in both global and domestic contexts.
             The global economy has experienced severe turbulence over the past five years. The aftereffects of the Asian economic meltdown, which included the plunging into a recession of the world's second largest single economy-Japan, continued to be felt near the end of the first calendar quarter of 2000 (Roach, 2000). The economic problems that confronted Southeast Asian economies beginning in the summer of 1997 were especially serious (Son, 1999). From the early 1970s until the beginning of the economic crisis in Southeast Asia, however, the economies of that region were envied for their spectacular records of economic growth (International Monetary Fund, 1998).
             While the economic management and focus in each of the economies of Southeast Asia varied, one point of uniformity was an emphasis on stability-oriented macroeconomic policies. These policies sought to achieve low rates of price inflation, an avoidance of overvalued currencies, high rates of physical and human capital accumulations, high rates of personal savings, and export-oriented production. These policies brought substantial economic success to the Southeast Asian economies generally (International Monetary Fund, 1998).
             The short answer to the causes of the economic and financial collapse in Southeast Asia is that it was a chain reaction involving the region's banks and commercial firms: Regional banks borrowed heavily from foreign sources at high rates of interest, and then loaned this costly capital to regional companies, which then built up hu...