Is management talent portable? The market certainly seems to think so. When a company hires a CEO from General Electric—widely considered in the United States to be the top executive-training ground—the hiring company’s stock price spikes instantly. We studied 20 former GE executives who were appointed chairman, CEO, or CEO designate at other companies between 1989 and 2001, and with only three exceptions, the hiring announcement provoked a positive stock-market reaction—an average gain of about $1.1 billion across the group.
