beyondbrics

In a sign of the growing importance of fast-growing emerging markets, GE Healthcare has decided to move the global headquarters of its 100 year old X-ray business from Waukesha, Wisconsin, to Beijing, China.

OK, so the move only involves shifting four actual employees and will not result in any layoffs in the Wisconsin office but the four relocated employees are probably the most important ones in the unit – the general manager, CMO, CFO and vice-president for HR.

A GE executive told the FT that while this was clearly not a “paradigm shift” it was a symbolic move that underscores the increasing importance of high-growth markets like China.

GE X-Ray said it has hired 65 engineers and support staff in a new facility in the western Chinese city of Chengdu, 1,500km away from Beijing, and will more than double that number to eventually have 200 people in China.

That seems a bit like moving your senior executive team to Los Angeles so they can manage their local US staff in Oklahoma City.

But the decision to move the global X-ray HQ to Beijing is just the latest in a string of announcements that seem aimed at displaying GE’s commitment to China.

After the FT reported comments from GE CEO Jeff Immelt last year in which he lamented the difficulties of doing business in China, the company has been extremely eager to show it is dedicated to the long haul in the country.

Late last year, Immelt announced a $2bn investment in China over the coming years, including $500m for six new “customer innovation centers” that include the GE X-ray facility in Chengdu.

But while showing its commitment to China, GE is also hoping to placate US politicians and the US public by insisting that none of the 150 people left in GE X-ray’s old headquarters in Wisconsin will lose their jobs.

GE X-ray has about 820 employees worldwide, in places like Bangalore and the outskirts of Paris, a small drop in the bucket of the 60,000 employees of GE Healthcare, which is itself headquartered in the UK.

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