Losing its magic touch

摘要

Among the many works that lionise General Electric (GE) as a model of management excellence is one entitled "If Harry Potter Ran General Electric", which claims to draw lessons for managers from J.K. Rowling's tales of the boy wizard. The book is unlikely to rival the original Harry in the bestsellers' chart. But its title might just appeal to shareholders of the American industrial giant, who have watched aghast as their company has fallen under a particularly nasty spell.rnSince the turn of the year GE has slashed its dividend by two-thirds, lost a prized AAA credit rating on its long-term debt and seen its stock battered by speculation about the quality of some loans made by its huge financial-services division, ge Capital. Some analysts have portrayed this business as GE'S very own chamber of horrors. On March 19th, after The Economist had gone to press, ge was due to reveal more details of the contents of GE Capital's asset portfolio in a bid to quell concerns about problems within.