Boeing: The Most Successful International Companies, Research Paper Example

Abstract

Boeing is rightly considered as one of the most successful international companies and an example of excellent management. This paper reviews the planning management function at Boeing. The planning function of management at Boeing is evaluated. The effects of legal issues, ethics, and corporate social responsibility on management planning at Boeing are discussed. The paper names three factors affecting the company’s strategic, tactical, and contingency planning. Implications for business management are provided.

Keywords: management, planning, Boeing, ethics, corporate social responsibility.

Business Management

Planning is one of the most important and challenging management functions. With globalization, market integration, and increased business competition, the importance of strategic, tactical, and contingency planning in organizations has become unprecedented. Successful planning is a vital source of firms’ competitive advantage. Boeing is no exception: a global aerospace company, in its management planning procedures Boeing relies on innovation and expansion. Ethics and corporate social responsibility are crucial to the company’s future successes. Profitability, culture, and environment profoundly affect strategic, tactical, and contingency planning at Boeing. Despite numerous successes, the company is still in the middle of its road to management planning excellence.

Planning is one of the most important functions of management. It is “the conscious, systematic process of making decisions about goals and activities that an individual, group, work unit, or organization will pursue in the future” (Bateman & Snell, 2009, p.132). It is a process that aims at developing a map of the future actions and decisions; this map reflects the current state of things within and outside of the organizations and, simultaneously, is flexible enough to allow for changes in organizational performance (Bateman & Snell, 2009). Boeing is one of the best examples of effective management planning. The secret behind Boeing’s planning success is in being able to align all levels of its planning function into a single system (Bateman & Snell, 2009). All planning processes at Boeing work to achieve one and the same purpose – that of competitiveness, sustained profitability, ethics, and corporate social responsibility at all levels of performance.

Just a decade ago, Boeing fought hard to beat out its main competitor, Airbus, out of the aerospace market (Bateman & Snell, 2009). Maximum sales by all means resulted in poor customer relations and ineffective operational planning (Bateman & Snell, 2009). Everything has changed since then. Today, tactical planning is extremely cautious (Bateman & Snell, 2009). Operational planning is entirely about maintaining productive relations with suppliers (Bateman & Snell, 2009). Production planning usually covers more than one year (Bateman & Snell, 2009). Boeing invests considerable resources in training its employees (Bateman & Snell, 2009). All these processes create a foundation for effective strategic planning. With schedules made for several years and stakeholders given the fullest information about Boeing’s production operations, strategic planning at Boeing is becoming remarkably efficient.

Despite Boeing’s planning successes, legal, ethical, and corporate social responsibility issues are not uncommon. The profits-by-all-means philosophy used to be a serious impediment to Boeing’s strategic growth. During 2000-2003, Boeing “exported commercial jets with a QES-11 gyrochip in the instrument flight boxes”, although the State Department imposed a legal ban on exporting this type of chips (Gates & Mundy, 2006). The effects of legal issues on management planning are two-fold. On the one hand, legal issues are associated with considerable costs; as a result, the quality of planning deteriorates, since the company lacks sufficient resources to invest in planning. On the other hand, managers must focus on devising strategies to violate laws, instead of being focused on the company’s main planning needs. These legal issues are further followed by ethical controversies. Boeing has become notorious for innumerous ethical violations, from gender pay gaps to contract favors granted to Boeing by Air Force chief officers (Gates & Mundy, 2006). Unethical behaviors hinder the creation of productive planning tactics, as long as unethical climates favor short-term revenues and deny the importance of long-term planning procedures. Simultaneously, Boeing’s relationship with corporate social responsibility is somewhat different: all planning procedures at Boeing must ensure that the company meets its obligations and benefits the society (Bateman & Snell, 2009). With this in mind, Boeing developed an Ethics and Business Conduct Program, which establishes the foundations of ethical performance and provides employees with recommendations how to resolve their ethical planning dilemmas (Boeing, 2008).

Profitability, culture, and innovation greatly affect strategic, tactical, and contingency planning at Boeing. Like any other commercial organization, Boeing wants to achieve and sustain profitability in the long run. In the first quarter of 2011, Boeing’s profits increased 13 percent, which was also due to changes in its planning operations (Peterson, 2011). Culture is another important factor of effective management at Boeing. The company is committed to the values of integrity, leadership excellence, quality, customer satisfaction, diversity, and corporate citizenship (Boeing, 2011). All these values serve the guiding lights in the development of planning solutions at Boeing. Eventually, it is through innovation that Boeing manages to preserve a strong position in the global aerospace industry. Tactical, strategic, and contingency planning procedures are developed to foster innovation, facilitate the creation of new, competitive products, and successfully launch these products in the aerospace market. Nonetheless, Boeing is still in the middle of the road to planning excellence. The company must focus on the development of relevant management planning frameworks, which will let Boeing meet its strategic goals with minimal financial, human, legal, and ethical costs.

Conclusion

Boeing is a good example of effective management planning. The secret behind Boeing’s planning success is in being able to align all planning procedures in a single system of planning. Boeing is extremely cautious in its operational decisions. Efficient tactical planning decisions create a foundation for productive strategic planning. Innovation, culture, and profitability greatly affect the quality of planning operations at Boeing. Yet, Boeing’s planning function is not without controversy. Legal and ethical issues hinder the development of relevant planning solutions. The company must focus on the development of relevant management planning frameworks, which will let Boeing meet its strategic goals with minimal financial, human, legal, and ethical costs.

References

Bateman, T. & Snell, S. (2009). Management: Leading & collaborating in the competitive world. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Boeing. (2008). Ethics and business conduct program. Boeing. Retrieved from http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/ethics/pro3.pdf

Boeing. (2011). About us: Culture & Values. Boeing. Retrieved from http://www.boeing.com/aboutus/culture/index.html

Gates, D. & Mundy, A. (2006). Boeing lawyer warns of the company’s legal peril. The Seattle Times. Retrieved from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002772936_boeing31.html

Peterson, K. (2011). Boeing profit up on better production. Reuters. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/27/us-boeing-earnings-idUSTRE73Q33820110427