Re:Boeing's Managerial Revolution Created the 737 Max Disaster
by V_Terranova_Jr on Saturday September 21, 2019 @06:06PM
(#21038180)
I work with these large aerospace primes and see no consistent display of vision, long-term thinking, or integrity among them. I'm not saying these qualities don't exist within their ranks, just that they never become overriding management values. Take a look at the qualifications of Lockheed Martin's CEO or the President of Boeing Defense & Space. Yet, as the article notes, despite being helmed by non-engineers in undoubtedly one of the most technically-demanding sectors in society, these companies are richly rewarded in the public marketplace. Wall Street clearly does not give a shit that these "leaders" don't even truly understand their products.
Pretending that all these companies need to do is Adam Smith harder is crazy. As long as they have $300-$400+ share prices, there is no market incentive for them to not suck.
Such a non-insightful aside. Boeing produced many excellent planes, and during that time functioned quite well in a capitalist system. In fact, was enabled by it. As if a non-functioning managerial class never could happen in a socialist bureaucracy.
Buying MD seems like it was mostly motivated by the profitability of defense contracts, which usually just end up distorting a company's priorities, and which are driven by decidedly non-capitalistic requirements of the military. HP avoided defense contracts for decades for this very reason.
Hopefully Boeing will return to its capitalist roots and realize that it needs to use the capital it has to satisfy the needs of its customers by building great planes.