With Europe now in the midst of an economic recovery, our strong participation could not have been better timed. We have increased the intensity of our acquisition activity in that great market of the next century. We are now a truly global company in mind as well as body. Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Our management meetings are conducted in a wide variety of accents, and global experience is now an important qualification for senior leadership.
Services is the second key growth initiative.
Not everyone has noticed it but the very nature of GE business activity has changed since as recently as 1990. We loved to make great things in factories and send them out the door in a box. We still do. We have changed the very nature of what we do for a living. We have become a services company that also makes high-quality products.