GLOBAL conglomerate GE has pledged to "play through" the slowdown in the mining industry, saying the economy would come through the adjustment" in solid shape. John Rice, GE's Hong Kong-based head of global growth and operations, said the economic reset taking place as the mining investment boom winds down "probably had to happen" and would be of benefit in the long term. He added it was crucial for a company like GE to have capabilities on the ground and "make things here" to satisfy customer demands and be viewed by government as a contributor to Australia. The Asia-Pacific region for us is growing at 15 to 20 per cent a year. I think that Australia will, for the foreseeable future, always be in our top five country list outside the US," he told an event hosted by The Weekend Australian as part of the Path to Prosperity series. GE operates in 160 countries and in Australia across several industries, from aviation to energy and oil and gas, and healthcare. "A company like ours, we're not going to close up our mining activities because capex is down 20 per cent, probably in the long run it makes more sense for there to be some kind of an adjustment and we have to play through and stay the course," Mr Rice said. We can't come in when the sun is shining and leave when it starts to rain a little bit, we have to be around for the long haul. It comes as companies increasingly eye greater efficiences to offset modest revenue growth, with technology emerging as the biggest potential productivity and competitive change agent. But chiefs are still understanding how to leverage "big data," or their massive databases of customer information, with Qantas chief Alan Joyce saying the airline was "still at the infancy" of reaping the rewards. Sue Morphet, chairwoman of Manufacturing Australia and former chief of Pacific Brands, said there was also a lot of work to be done around the ownership and distribution of information to allow value to be added. "It's pretty exciting because it gives us opportunities for ancillary growth that we hadn't begun to think about before," said Jetstar chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka, saying data from its new business in Japan was already delivering insights. It gives us opportunities for cost reduction that we didn't think were possible. We're really young in the process. Mr Joyce said Qantas has 10 million frequent flyers, but emails only 170,000 versions of a message rather than 10 million -- and only 30 to 40 per cent of those emails are opened. He said an email opening rate of 100 per cent would count as a success for the airline.