In Annual Letter, G.E. Chief Extolls ‘Simplification’

General Electric, a century-old industrial company, is taking its cues from the young technology firms of Silicon Valley.

The company, which has sought to streamline itself in the years since the financial crisis, is emphasizing a “culture of simplification,” its chief executive, Jeffrey R. Immelt, wrote in an annual letter to shareholders published on Monday. That focus draws inspiration in part from the “lean start-up” idea that is popular in technology circles.

“The biggest risks at GE are the inability to seize market opportunities,” Mr. Immelt said. “Simplification is making us more competitive.”

The effort to simplify involves reducing the size of the finance unit, GE Capital, which once loaded up on risky bets that wounded its parent company in the financial crisis. Mr. Immelt wants financial services to make up 30 percent of the company’s earnings by 2015. (Last year, the finance unit accounted for 51 percent of General Electric’s earnings.)

GE Capital has been selling assets, including a Swiss subsidiary whose initial public offering created a $1 billion tax benefit in the fourth quarter of 2013.

In the letter, Mr. Immelt said GE Capital had become “smaller and safer,” with “less leverage and more liquidity.”

“We are making substantial investments to meet the standards expected from a Federal Reserve regulated financial institution,” he wrote.

Mr. Immelt said the company had “redeployed capital” by selling businesses outside its core, in areas like insurance and media. Last year, General Electric sold its remaining stake in NBCUniversal to Comcast.

It’s not just start-ups that have caught Mr. Immelt’s attention. He gave a nod in the letter to Jeffrey P. Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, who said that even the most important companies die out after a few decades.

But not G.E., Mr. Immelt suggested, writing: “GE has remained competitive because we learn and change.”