Source: The Wall Street Journal Asia                          Date: 11 November, 2010

General Electric Co. is reassigning a top executive to a new job aimed at spurring overseas sales, which the company is counting on heavily to drive its growth. Vice Chairman John G. Rice will be responsible for all non-U.S. markets, with particular emphasis on high-growth areas such as China, India, the Middle East and Brazil. GE wants its international operations to account for 60% of its sales and is near that mark, but the conglomerate has fallen short of ambitious targets set for its operations in China and India.

Mr. Rice visited Mongolia and met with top Government officials in late October in connection with GE's Memorandum of Understanding with the Newcom Group. Currently based in Atlanta, he will relocate to Hong Kong and start his new job January 1. The switch "moves GE from U.S.-centered decision-making to a faster, decentralized model", spokeswoman Anne Eisele said.