Universal, GE Getting Acquainted
When General Electric Co. and Universal Studios came together in a $14-billion marriage a year ago, it seemed like an odd pairing. GE likes order and predictability; Universal operates in a world where hunches and high-stakes gambles are the keys to success.
Although the couple has made it to its first anniversary, both are still getting to know each other's corporate quirks, not all of which have been easy to accept.
Executives throughout the newly merged company have become both ambassadors and teachers, explaining the basics of their businesses to each other.
In January, at a management conference for GE executives in Boca Raton, Fla., Universal Pictures Chairwoman Stacey Snider did her best to educate about 650 executives from such far-flung divisions as medical technology, equipment services and plastics. Her "movie business 101" primer, as she calls it, included explaining such Hollywood jargon as "tent-pole movies" and "franchise strategy."
Universal Pictures executives have had their own steep learning curve.
Last fall, Snider's lieutenant, Vice Chairman Marc Shmuger, was the studio's representative on a three-week GE leadership course. He traveled the country with other GE executives to study "global growth strategies" at an assortment of non-entertainment companies with ties to GE. When the visits were done, the team was required to write up its findings.
"It was definitely different," recalled Shmuger. "I had to work hard to keep an open mind."
Top executives say that, for the most part, the integration of Universal with GE and its NBC television operations has gone smoothly and profitably, living up to the theme of the merger's anniversary: "One Year, One Company, One Vision."
"I haven't seen any evidence of a culture clash," NBC Universal Chief Executive Bob Wright said in an interview this week. But he acknowledged that "there's always going to be some people disappointed with some aspect of something."
Most of the wariness and friction has emanated from Universal's back lot, where GE has implemented cost-saving programs and disrupted long-standing business relationships.
In a bid to get cheaper prices for services, GE has instructed the studio to use the company's "preferred vendors" for camera rentals, film labs, overnight couriers and air travel, among others. Most purchase decisions that had been handled by Universal's own production managers and line producers now move through an NBC Universal department headed by GE veteran Marcia Haynes, whose most recent job was as an executive in the company's advanced materials division.
