Boeing - Marketing Strategy

The objective of the paper is provide both a detailed analysis of the problems of the Boeing Company, the drastic effects of these problems and its solutions.

Running head: BOEING - MARKETING STRATEGY
BOEING - MARKETING STRATEGY
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Executive Summary
The objective of the paper is provide both a detailed analysis of the problems of the Boeing
Company, the drastic effects of these problems and its solutions. The paper is initiated by
stating the issues of the Boeing Company related to the Boeing 737 Max that contributes to
creating a detrimental reputation of the organization. This analysis is followed by a list of
recommendations that are required to improve the structure of the company. The paper is
concluded with a further suggestion for implementation of the recommendation and ends with
the required list of references.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Issues with Boeing 737 Max..................................................................................................3
Steps to resolve the issues......................................................................................................4
 Change in B2B structure.............................................................................................4
 Training assistance......................................................................................................5
 Quality control.............................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The Boeing Company, an American MNC, is one of the colossal global aerospace
producers that manufactures and designs airplanes, satellites, missiles, telecommunications
equipment and such other products related to the defense and aerospace industry. Established
by William Boeing, in Seattle, Washington, on July 15, 1916, presently the company is
merged with McDonnell Douglas since August 1, 1997 (Boeing.com 2019). In the recent
times, the company is encountering certain issues regarding the fact that the consumers are
losing their trust in the company. The paper focuses on these issues and provides a detailed
analysis of how the issues can be fixed and thereby help the company recover from the losses
incurred and suggests ways to avoid such issues in the future.
Discussion
Issues with Boeing 737 Max
Boeing 737 max, one of the most rapidly selling aircrafts of the company has shown
some unfavorable effects on the reputation of the company following two fatal crashes. The
company was presented in a detrimental light over the global news as an aftermath of the
grounding of its aircrafts across the globe (Denning 2013). Following the crashes in
Indonesia and Ethiopia, wherein the Boeing Company constructed both the flights that
malfunctioned, has led to an upheaval among the customers of the company. (Morais, Yung
and Patelli 2019). The cause behind the Ethiopian accident recorded the malfunctioning of
the angle of attack sensor that triggered the 737 Max’s MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics
Augmentation System), the purpose of which is to push the nose of the aircraft downwards.
This similar defect led to the other crash in Indonesia as well. As a result, of these crashes the
company had to ground all its fleet globally (Sgobba 2019).

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It must be noted that the aircraft company has been grounded in 2013 as well when its
787-8 Dreamliner’s lithium battery displayed a propensity to catch fire. Similar incident of
crash due to different reasons was sighted in Russia in 2016 (Shakina 2016). However, a
redesigning of the model has led to its resurgence of its sale in the market. Such is not the
case for Boeing 737 Max, as the CEO of the company refuses to lift the grounding of the fleet
unless the required changes are successfully made. The CEO, Dennis Muilenburg has even
asked the Federal Aviation Adminitration to recheck and retest the 737 Max before putting it
back into the market.
Image 1: Boeing Market Shares (March 2018-January 2019)
(Source: yahoo.com 2019)
The aforementioned chart shows how the market shares of the company have been
influenced following the accidents. Due to these incidents, the company’s customers have
started losing faith in the efficiency of the flights especially the Boeing 737 Max, which has
led to the decline in the company’s revenue.
Steps to resolve the issues
 Change in B2B structure: The Boeing Company is a B2B oriented company and
thus trades or sells its merchandise among businesses and corporations of varied sorts

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instead of managing a direct relation with the consumers (Bussler 2013). The first
change that can be implemented is to change the B2B structure of the company. By
handling the issues of the consumers directly, the Boeing Company will have a vivid
idea of the kind of pressure that the airline customers encounter. This change shall
also provide valid and effective feedback to the Boeing Company from the customers
leading to a proper understanding of the issues affecting the company.
 Training assistance: The fact that the grounding of the company’s fleet is not the
first occurrence in the history of the organization, must be taken into account. The
repeated grounding of the fleet of the corporation tarnished the company’s reputation,
projecting the company in a deleterious light and thereby leading to widespread of
distrust among the customers. (Kobes 2013) In order to avoid such setbacks, the
company can introduce training facilities to better accustom the crew of its flights
with the systems and other facets that are typical to the company’s models and others
like the MCAS. In case of disasters that can happen in spite of taking ample safety
precautions, the company, can also provide disaster management classes to improve
the capabilities of the crewmembers in handling accidents.
 Quality control: The Boeing Company has several reports adhering to the fact that
the merchandise produced by the organization incorporates defects and lack quality
assurances. Even the CEO of the company, Dennis A. Muilenburg, admits that the
aforementioned crashes that led to the depreciation of the company’s reputation, were
caused due to faulty parts of the aircrafts. The flights associated with the crash were
equipped with one sensor for measuring their angle that is relative to the ground.
However, other aircraft manufacturers provide two such sensors for enhanced
performance. The Boeing Company made its flights vulnerable by designing MCAS
that react to only a single sensor, leading to the malfunction (Ragheb 2019). Dennis

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A. Muilenburg needs to update and change for the better this particular feature in
order to avoid such deadly incidents. The CEO needs to provide full proof quality
checks before manufacturing the aircrafts as any defect might lead to an unfortunate
incident causing the death of hundreds.
Conclusion
It can be deduced from the above discussion that the Boeing Company is in a
precarious condition with its sales reaching a degrading point with every passing day. The
company needs to implement the suggestions stated above and such other policies that shall
benefit the reputation of the organization. The management system of the corporation needs
to be up graded with better information regarding how to implement the training process and
for what duration is it required. The company requires to invest further in the improvement of
the equipment that is used in the infrastructure of the flights. The existing defects of the
aircrafts needs to be fixed and new gears have to be incorporated within the faulty fleet. It
must also be mentioned that the company needs to get back to business. The grounding policy
must be resolved immediately as it recurrently damages the reputation of the company as a
whole. With the proper monitoring of its customer concerns and demands directly, the
company can also develop further. It is also required of the company to assure its investors
and purchasers that the quality of the aircrafts and the market conditions of the organization
shall improve in a short period of time. Therefore, it can be concluded that with quick action,
the company can overcome the current difficulties and flourish further in the industry.

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References
Boeing.com 2019. Boeing: Boeing History. [online] Boeing.com. Available at:
https://www.boeing.com/history/ [Accessed 25 Jul. 2019].
Bussler, C., 2013. B2B integration: Concepts and architecture. Springer Science & Business
Media, pp.15-31.
ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/boeing-faa-already-lost-control-195353314. (2019). Yahoo is
now a part of Oath. [online] Ca.finance.yahoo.com. Available at:
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/boeing-faa-already-lost-control-195353314.html
[Accessed 25 Jul. 2019].
Denning, S., 2013. What went wrong at Boeing. Strategy & Leadership, 41(3), pp.36-41.
Kobes, D., 2013. Making On-the-Job Training Work: Lessons from the Boeing
Manufacturing On-the-Job Training Project. Jobs For the Future, pp.3-20.
Morais, C., Yung, K. and Patelli, E., 2019. Machine-learning tool for human factors
evaluation–application to lion air boeing 737-8 max accident, pp.6-9.
Ragheb, M., 2019. Fault tree analysis and alternative configurations of angle of attack (AOA)
sensors as part of maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS), pp.3-29.
Sgobba, T., 2019. B-737 max and the crash of the regulatory system, pp.1.
Shakina, N.P., Ivanova, A.R., Skriptunova, E.N. and Gorlach, I.A., 2016. Boeing 737-800
crash: Weather conditions in Rostov-on-Don on March 19, 2016. Russian Meteorology and
Hydrology, 41(7), pp.513-517.