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New York Times Bestseller
New York Times reporter and "Corner Office" columnist David Gelles reveals legendary GE CEO Jack Welch to be the root of all that's wrong with capitalism today and offers advice on how we might right those wrongs.
In 1981, Jack Welch took over General Electric and quickly rose to fame as the first celebrity CEO. He golfed with presidents, mingled with movie stars, and was idolized for growing GE into the most valuable company in the world. But Welch's achievements didn't stem from some greater intelligence or business prowess. Rather, they were the result of a sustained effort to push GE's stock price ever higher, often at the expense of workers, consumers, and innovation. In this captivating, revelatory book, David Gelles argues that Welch single-handedly ushered in a new, cutthroat era of American capitalism that continues to this day.
Gelles chronicles Welch's campaign to vaporize hundreds of thousands of jobs in a bid to boost profits, eviscerating the country's manufacturing base, and destabilizing the middle class. Welch's obsession with downsizing-he eliminated 10% of employees every year-fundamentally altered GE and inspired generations of imitators who have employed his strategies at other companies around the globe. In his day, Welch was corporate America's leading proponent of mergers and acquisitions, using deals to gobble up competitors and giving rise to an economy that is more concentrated and less dynamic. And Welch pioneered the dark arts of "financialization," transforming GE from an admired industrial manufacturer into what was effectively an unregulated bank. The finance business was hugely profitable in the short term and helped Welch keep GE's stock price ticking up. But ultimately, financialization undermined GE and dozens of other Fortune 500 companies.
Gelles shows how Welch's celebrated emphasis on increasing shareholder value by any means necessary (layoffs, outsourcing, offshoring, acquisitions, and buybacks, to name but a few tactics) became the norm in American business generally. He demonstrates how that approach has led to the greatest socioeconomic inequality since the Great Depression and harmed many of the very companies that have embraced it. And he shows how a generation of Welch acolytes radically transformed companies like Boeing, Home Depot, Kraft Heinz, and more. Finally, Gelles chronicles the change that is now afoot in corporate America, highlighting companies and leaders who have abandoned Welchism and are proving that it is still possible to excel in the business world without destroying livelihoods, gutting communities, and spurning regulation.
New York Times reporter and "Corner Office" columnist David Gelles reveals legendary GE CEO Jack Welch to be the root of all that's wrong with capitalism today and offers advice on how we might right those wrongs.
In 1981, Jack Welch took over General Electric and quickly rose to fame as the first celebrity CEO. He golfed with presidents, mingled with movie stars, and was idolized for growing GE into the most valuable company in the world. But Welch's achievements didn't stem from some greater intelligence or business prowess. Rather, they were the result of a sustained effort to push GE's stock price ever higher, often at the expense of workers, consumers, and innovation. In this captivating, revelatory book, David Gelles argues that Welch single-handedly ushered in a new, cutthroat era of American capitalism that continues to this day.
Gelles chronicles Welch's campaign to vaporize hundreds of thousands of jobs in a bid to boost profits, eviscerating the country's manufacturing base, and destabilizing the middle class. Welch's obsession with downsizing-he eliminated 10% of employees every year-fundamentally altered GE and inspired generations of imitators who have employed his strategies at other companies around the globe. In his day, Welch was corporate America's leading proponent of mergers and acquisitions, using deals to gobble up competitors and giving rise to an economy that is more concentrated and less dynamic. And Welch pioneered the dark arts of "financialization," transforming GE from an admired industrial manufacturer into what was effectively an unregulated bank. The finance business was hugely profitable in the short term and helped Welch keep GE's stock price ticking up. But ultimately, financialization undermined GE and dozens of other Fortune 500 companies.
Gelles shows how Welch's celebrated emphasis on increasing shareholder value by any means necessary (layoffs, outsourcing, offshoring, acquisitions, and buybacks, to name but a few tactics) became the norm in American business generally. He demonstrates how that approach has led to the greatest socioeconomic inequality since the Great Depression and harmed many of the very companies that have embraced it. And he shows how a generation of Welch acolytes radically transformed companies like Boeing, Home Depot, Kraft Heinz, and more. Finally, Gelles chronicles the change that is now afoot in corporate America, highlighting companies and leaders who have abandoned Welchism and are proving that it is still possible to excel in the business world without destroying livelihoods, gutting communities, and spurning regulation.
Abrechnung mit dem früheren General-Electric-Chef
Der Aufstieg von General Electric (GE) in der Zeit von 1981 bis 2001 unter der rigorosen Führung von Jack Welch - auch berühmt-berüchtigt als "Neutronen-Jack" - zum Unternehmen mit der höchsten Börsenkapitalisierung und der dann folgende tiefe Fall bis zur Fast-Pleite ziehen seit Jahren das Interesse auf sich. Mehrere Bücher sind darüber geschrieben worden, die tief in das Innenleben der einstigen amerikanischen Industrie-Ikone einsteigen und dabei fatale Missstände aufgedeckt haben. Nun hat der "New York Times"-Journalist David Gelles eine weiteres provokativ geschriebenes Buch hinzugefügt. Dabei handelt es sich nicht um ein Me-Too-Produkt, das die schon vorhandenen Erkenntnisse noch mal aufkocht. Gelles' Schrift geht erfreulicherweise weit über den Einzelfall GE hinaus und analysiert, wie die unter dem Trump-Freund Jack Welch als GE-Chef praktizierten Machenschaften wie schnelles Kostensenken durch rigorosen Personalabbau, der Kauf und Verkauf von Firmen und der Einstieg in eigentlich geschäftsfremde riskante Finanzgeschäfte viele große Unternehmen wie mit einem gefährlichen Virus infiziert haben.
Im Ergebnis habe der "Welchismus" einen gewaltigen wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Schaden verursacht. Der Stakeholder-Kapitalismus, der Amerikas Industrie einst stark machte, sei von Jack Welch und der Schar seiner Epigonen radikal abgewickelt worden. An dessen Stelle sei ein einseitiger Shareholder-Kapitalismus getreten, geprägt von kurzfristigem Streben nach Profit und Effizienzsteigerung. Dabei werde nicht mehr in exzellente Ingenieurleistungen investiert, stattdessen gehe es allein darum, mit allen Mitteln die Erwartungen der Wall Street zu übertreffen und den Aktionären sowie nicht zuletzt den Spitzenmanagern eine üppige Ernte zu bescheren. Die Leidtragenden seien insbesondere die Beschäftigten.
Diese desaströse, von Jack Welch induzierte Fehlentwicklung, die auch Unternehmen wie Boeing, Home Depot und Kraft Heinz erfasste, habe in den USA zu dem dramatischen Verlust von Industriearbeitsplätzen, der Aushöhlung der Mittelklasse und zur brisanten Spaltung der amerikanischen Gesellschaft geführt. Leider wirkten Welchs (Un)Heilslehren bis in die heutige Zeit fort. Mit seiner Philippika gegen den "Welchismus" spricht sich David Gelles in seinem spannenden Buch für eine Rückbesinnung auf die alten Tugenden der amerikanischen Industrie aus. ROBERT FIETEN
David Gelles: The Man Who Broke Capitalism: How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland and Crushed the Soul of Corporate America and How to Undo His Legacy. Simon & Schuster, New York 2022, 272 Seiten, 26 Euro.
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