There is one thing, if you're part of the General Electric (GE) family of companies, that is demanded by the parent: You're expected to be No. 1 or No. 2 in your competitive category. With NBC currently in 4th place among networks, this won't cut it any longer. Even growth isn't enough for GE. They don't want their companies growing larger and staying in their 4th place position. In other words they're not looking for a stronger 4th place finish by their companies.
Wayne Friedman writing for TV Watch says concerning GE's Six Sigma strategy:
"According to the tenets of Six Sigma, success depends on two things: customer satisfaction and process capability. First, simply ask the customer what he wants and fine-tune your process to efficiently deliver it. This way you increase revenue through customer loyalty and product quality. Second, decrease costs by eliminating the hidden factory problems (no doubt scripted programming and bloated news operations)."
One of the things that NBC has increasingly struggled with has been finding out what the customer wants first. They are finally understanding that digital media is the growth area for the business; something they have been resisting for years. They have spent so much time blasting and suing others, that they haven't looked at the reason for its fall from No. 1.
For the most part, all their posturing has been so that they could redirect attention off of their poor performance. GE is right in essentially saying that they're calling their bluff. Now they want results.
I like this for the company. To me the excuses have been going on far too long. This will be a fun and interesting story to follow to see GE apply some of the Six Sigma approach to the entertainment industry.
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