Boeing Company Background

Boeing is the world’s aerospace design company. It was founded in 1916 by William Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing is the leading U.S. exporter in aerospace technology as the company sells planes and air technology not only to the United States but to major airlines and allied government customers in over 140 countries. Some of Boeings products and services include commercial and military aircraft, weapons systems, satellites and communications, and many logistical and missile systems. Boeings major rival is the European giant Airbus (Birnbaum, 2004). However, Boeing is an enormous leader in research and design and the manufacturing of military and commercial aircraft which puts them over the top. Boeing has a vision that could make or break the company and it could take them to new heights in aircraft stability. Boeing has identified that due to other aircraft designers like the Airbus, they have been rapidly losing their market share since the late 1990’s, and the Airbus has been causing declining sales for the jumbo 747 jets. Boeings top management decided in order to sustain any momentum and take back being the marvel of world aviation they had to do something. The following essay will discuss how Boeing put everything on the line to retake being the number seller of commercial aircraft.

The first thing that Boeing changed was implementing a position on how to decrease waste by building lighter aircraft and maximizing the optimal usage of their resources. They put in place critical success factors (Boeing.com) that were used to direct the company into the new future and gauging its success. They looked at what were the important areas where successful achievement was required in order to attain those goals. By identifying those factors, it helped Boeing recognize the tasks that were needed for that success (Austin, 2002). The development of success factors gives a business the opportunity to measure their success and formulate their goals in a way that is significant to the business. Bill Birnbaum, “Strategic Thinking” A Four Piece Puzzle, states that it is important to keep the list of success factors to no more than two or three at the most”. Many companies have long lists of success factors but often this causes them to lose focus on the most critical aspects because they are incapable of concentrating on the most important factors. Boeing took a two prong approach which this essay will discuss in the next topic.

Boeing took a look at the culture of leadership within the company. The senior management identified that leadership is the key to pushing sustainable growth and productivity. Boeing developed and formally introduced a centralized leadership style. They went and hired W. James McNerney as their new CEO. McNerney had been the CEO of General Electric and he came in with a vision to make Boeing retain the name of being the leader in aircraft innovation. Boeing instituted a set of features that demonstrates