Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp Essays - General Electric,

Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp Business Level Strategy The business level strategy of GE in times past has been concentrated on providing heath care equipment to approximately 300 hospitals that were run by Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. But GE, run by Welch, has diversified greatly. Moving from a primarily manufacturing firm to becoming a more service oriented firm. One of the first big steps for GE to move into the services market was when Columbia allowed them to service all of their imaging equipment, including those made by GE's rivals. Differentiation The strategy of differentiation for GE is in their vision of improving the quality of their products and services. Welch decided earlier this year to improve GE quality with the expectation of boosting their revenues. Overall Cost Leader GE is already seeing a competitive advantage in streamlining their organizations that reduce operating costs and increasing revenues. In fact, they have done this so well that other organizations have been willing to hire GE as a consultant to show them the tricks of the trade that will increase their bottom lines. GE has been offering flat rate full service contracts for many of its customers that are raising the eye brows of competitors. Focus The focus for Welch has been directed on GE and GE alone. It was stated that he doesn't sit on any outside corporate boards and is devoted to the success of GE. Prospector GE is definitely categorized as a prospecting type of company. As the article outlines, GE is a company that looks for new markets and new growth opportunities and is willing to accept some level of risk. Along with successfully being involved in Medical Systems, Aircraft Engines, Power Generation, and Transportation, GE has been busy working on global computer services that appears to have phenomenal potential for them. Corporate Level Strategy As all of GE's business entities get direction from Welch on a business level strategy, he has come up with a corporate level strategy that has his competitors guessing what next? Welch appears to have enough vision to see what industry is doing as a whole and not just what the manufacturing industry is doing. This vision has driven his company to seek out opportunities that are more service orientated. Concentration The diversification of GE in recent years tends to make one believe that GE does not concentrate on just one thing. But GE has concentrated on manufacturing as its primary task in the business world. But Welch has changed that task to providing services. A company that can effectively provide a product and then turn around and be the sole service provider for that product will seemingly be in a position to where its competitor cannot touch them. Growth Penetration - GE has been able to increase its customer base by providing a complete package that includes products and services at flat or lower cost. Expansion - GE is also expanding into new areas, such as providing services for its existing product line along with the product line of its competitors. GE is also working on becoming a service provider for corporate computer networks around the world. This would put them in direct competition with IBM and EDS, companies that were not seen as competitors in the past. Globalization GE has been very strong in the international market in the past but is positioning itself with a much broader dominance by implementing a variety of services for companies abroad. Horizontal & Vertical Integration Horizontally, GE is not carving away at its competition all that much, but it wants to become much more vertical in different areas of the international business world. For whatever business GE is in, it wants to be able to dominate it from the top down. This vertical expansion goes forward as well as backward. If GE is unable to buy a given reseller or supplier it makes sure that the contract states that its customer must go through them for all aspects of the business. (i.e. products and services)

The 7 Base Units of the Metric System

The 7 Base Units of the Metric System The metric system is a framework of units of measurement that has grown from its 1874 birth in a diplomatic treaty to the more modern General Conference on Weights and Measures, or CGPM (Conferà ©rence Gà ©nà ©rale des Poids et Measures). The modern system is properly called the International System of Units, or SI, an abbreviation from the French Le Systà ¨me International dUnità ©s. Today, most people use the names metric and SI interchangeably. The 7 Base Metric Units The metric system is the main system of measurement units used in science. Each unit is considered to be dimensionally independent of the others. These dimensions are measurements of length, mass, time, electric current, temperature, amount of a substance, and luminous intensity. Here are definitions of the seven base units: Length: Meter (m) The meter is the metric unit of length. Its defined as the length of the path light travels in a vacuum during 1/299,792,458 of a second.Mass: Kilogram (kg) The kilogram is the metric unit of mass. Its the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram: a standard platinum/iridium 1 kg mass housed near Paris at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM).Time: Second (s) The basic unit of time is the second. The second is defined as the duration of 9,192,631,770 oscillations of radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of cesium-133.Electric current: Ampere (A) The basic unit of electric current is the ampere. The ampere is defined as the constant current that, if maintained in two infinitely long straight parallel conductors with a negligible circular cross-section and placed 1 m apart in a vacuum, would produce a force between the conductors equal to 2 x 10-7 newtons per meter of length.Temperature: Kelvin (K) The Kelvin is the unit of thermodynamic temperature. It is the fraction 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water. The Kelvin scale is an absolute scale, so there is no degree.​ Amount of a Substance: Mole (mol) The mole is defined as the amount of a substance that contains as many entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilograms of carbon-12. When the mole unit is used, the entities must be specified. For example, the entities may be atoms, molecules, ions, electrons, cows, houses, or anything else.Luminous Intensity: candela (cd) The unit of luminous intensity, or light, is the candela. The candela is the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source emitting monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 x 1012 hertz with radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683 watt per steradian. These definitions are actually methods to realize the unit. Each realization was created with a unique, sound theoretical base to generate reproducible and accurate results. Other Important Metric Units In addition to the seven base units, other metric units are commonly used: Liter (L) While the metric unit of volume is the cubic meter, m3, the most commonly used unit is the liter. A liter is equal in volume to one cubic decimeter, dm 3, which is a cube that is 0.1 m on each side.Angstrom (Ã…) One angstrom equals 10-8 cm or 10-10 m. Named for Anders Jonas Ã…ngstrom, the unit is used to measure the chemical bond length and electromagnetic radiation wavelength.Cubic centimeter (cm3) A cubic centimeter is a common unit  used to measure solid volume. The corresponding unit for liquid volume is the milliliter (mL), which is equal to one cubic centimeter.