Synopsis
The Rise and Fall of Boeing and The Way Back is Scott Hamilton’s sequel to his book Air Wars,The Global Combat Between Airbus and Boeing. Four years in the making, Rise and Fall begins with Boeing’s creation in 1916, describing how it designed the advanced Model 247 airliner and blew its opportunity to the Douglas Aircraft Co. Following World War II, Boeing nearly repeated this mistake with the leading Boeing 707, recovering by creating a broad family of airplanes. Boeing overtook Douglas and beat back an effort by Lockheed to re-enter the airliner field with the L-1011 TriStar jet. But Boeing misjudged the threat by Airbus beginning in 1974.
Conventional wisdom says that Boeing’s decline started with the 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas Corp. and the emphasis on shareholder value. In truth, “shareholder value” was introduced before the merger. Rise and Fall reveals how shareholder value pre-dated the merger, and it describes “legacy” Boeing’s last hurrah, the original 777. The book takes the reader through the leadership eras of Phil Condit, Harry Stonecipher, Jim McNerney, Dennis Muilenburg, David Calhoun, and the beginning of Kelly Ortberg.
Rise and Fall details how Stonecipher began to change the culture at Boeing from an engineering company into a financially-centric corporation. The 10-year reign of Jim McNerney was filled with program delays and multi-billion-dollar cost overruns of the 787 and 747-8; his wars with the labor unions; the launch of the 737 MAX; and the transition to Muilenburg's elevation to CEO. Mulenburg's tenure was cut short by his mishandling of the 737 MAX crisis. His successor, David Calhoun, was supposed to turn Boeing around, but he failed to do so. Now, the way back to prosperity and engineering falls to Kelly Ortberg.