Immelt owns NBC and is on the White House board of economic advisors, so has the political juice to get waivers and ward off regulation. If you are a regulator, you will pick an easier target, like Exxon, which doesn't own a news network. Even granting the things in the article (tighter feedback loop, higher gas prices for shipping, increased labor productivity), regulation is not mentioned, so the generalization to other manufacturing companies is suspect.