As news that Fran ois Hollande had unseated Nicholas Sarkozy as France's president began to circulate on Sunday, Jeffrey Immelt , chairman and chief executive officer of General Electric Co.,offered a pithy assessment of Europe's financial challenges. "I think we're somewhere between bad and disaster," Immelt said. "Ithink it'll turn out to be slow economic growth in Europe." Immelt, who has been at the helm of Fairfield-based GE for 11 yearsand serves as chairman of President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, also offered his thoughts on globalization,GE's company strategy and the state of the U.S. economy. The executive spoke to a large crowd at St. Luke's School in New Canaan Sunday, as part of the fourth annual Conversations with BusinessLeaders, a program presented by the New Canaan Library and sponsored by First County Bank . To thrive in what Immelt called "the new normal" of the worldeconomy, companies will have to invest, globalize and "play offenseand defense at the same time," he said. Industrial and financialservices at GE will grow 10 percent this year and 65 percent of thecompany's business is outside the U.S. "GE is well positioned to be successful in the environment we're intoday," Immelt said, adding that a note of optimism should also bestruck in discussions about the national economy. "Most business ispretty good. We feel competitive, optimistic, we're investing. I'venever seen American business more competitive." As the cost of labor has fallen, GE is making plans to move some ofits appliance manufacturing back to the U.S. from overseas.Manufacturing, as well as investment in technology and innovation,is key at the moment, Immelt said. GE spends 6 percent on researchand development, compared to the national expenditure of 2 percent. "When we apply technology and innovation, there's no one who canbeat us," he said. "All the effort that's been put into socialmedia will be directed to man-to-machine interface in the next 5years." Regarding the U.S.'s fiscal deadlock, Immelt spoke strongly infavor of the Simpson-Bowles plan first brought forward in 2010,which, if enacted, would aim to reduce the deficit by 2.2 percentand establish one corporate tax rate. Though he acknowledged that he wouldn't necessarily like everythingin it, Immelt called the plan not just fiscally important, but"spiritually important." "He has some pretty clear ideas and gets them across prettyeffectively," Christian LeBris , assistant treasurer of the New Canaan Library, said following thepresentation. "It's good to hear someone who talks straight.". I am an expert from honkonipl.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Multifunction Beauty Equipment , Er Yag Laser Manufacturer, Fractional Laser equipment,and more.
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