Boeing was once an engineering company that happened to have accountants. The McDonnell Douglas merger inverted this. Cost-cutting replaced safety culture. Stock buybacks replaced R&D. The 737 MAX disasters were not anomalies, they were the system working as redesigned. This is what happens when you optimize for quarterly earnings in an industry where errors kill people.
Multiple fatal decisions took years to address. 737 MAX grounding lasted 20 months. Safety culture eroded over decades.
MCAS failures killed 346 people. Door plug blowout in 2024. Whistleblower retaliation. Errors compound.
Engineering expertise hollowed out. Outsourced to suppliers. McDonnell Douglas finance culture won.
Defense contracts, supplier dependencies, union agreements, regulatory oversight all limit options.
Engineers leaving. Reputation damaged. Hard to recruit safety-focused talent when safety is compromised.
Aircraft development costs $10B+. Factories are fixed. R&D cycles are decades.
Siloed between commercial, defense, space. Lessons not shared. Safety learnings lost.
"Boeing was once an engineering company that happened to have accountants. The McDonnell Douglas merger inverted this. The 737 MAX disasters were not anomalies, they were the system working as redesigned."
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