AC

This is the first in a series of occasional interviews with top executives about global competition and the lessons they're learning as their companies expand in new international markets. This month, John Rice, vice chairman and head of global operations for General Electric, talks about his recent move to Hong Kong and how GE's international strategy benefits its U.S. operations. His answers were edited for clarity and space. Q: GE is moving key executives to emerging markets, and as part of this, transferred you from Atlanta to Hong Kong last year. Why the focus on emerging markets? A: The focus is actually broader than emerging markets because we find growth and opportunities in a lot of places. Among the countries that we care about in addition to the U.S. and Western Europe are countries like Australia and Canada, where we've seen significant growth the past few years … driven in part by our participation in the mining and mineral industries. Q: GE is one of the USA's...