Comparative Analysis: Airbus Group SE and Boeing Technology Management

This report offers a comparative analysis of the technology management strategies employed by Airbus Group SE and Boeing. It begins with an introduction, followed by a critical examination of the historical and present-day operations of both companies, highlighting their respective approaches to product development, manufacturing, and service support. The core of the report compares their technology management strategies, focusing on their approaches to innovation, research and development, and business planning. The report also includes a flowchart illustrating the technology management processes of both companies. The conclusion summarizes the key differences and similarities in their approaches, emphasizing how each company leverages technology to gain a competitive advantage in the global aerospace market. The report utilizes cited references to support its claims.

Running head: MANAGEMENT OF TECHNOLOGY
MANAGEMENT OF TECHNOLOGY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Critical analysis of historical and present day operations of Airbus Group SE and the Boeing.....2
Comparing their respective technology management strategies.....................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................3
References........................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
The present study focuses on the comparison between technological management of the
two companies involving Airbus Group SE and the Boeing (Thamhain 2013). The assessment
also highlights on the historical as well as current day operations of the Boeing and Airbus
Group SE. The technology management strategies adopted by these two companies are also
compared in this study.
Critical analysis of historical and present day operations of Airbus Group SE and the
Boeing
Airbus Group SE is the European multinational enterprise that designs, produces and
sells military as well as civil aeronautical products globally. This company basically produces
first commercial digital fly-by- wire airliner and the globe’s biggest passenger airliner A380. The
Boeing organization is the American multinational enterprise that also designs, produces and
sells rotorcraft, satellites and airplanes globally. This enterprise is one of the biggest world
aircraft producers and has been second biggest contractor in the globe as accounted by revenue.
The present day flight operations of Airbus involve specification, designing, development,
manufacturing and service support mainly for the training services as well as simulation devices.
Additionally, military aircraft operations of this enterprise involve delivering turnkey solutions at
their customer sites involving simulator- based training and facility management (Yu 2012).
Their current operations also involve aerial targets usually for live- fire training and mission
training. On the contrary, the current operations of Boeing involve services linked to flight deck,
crew training, cabin operations, airplane operations in flight. The military related operations of

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Boeing are mainly centered on production, support of bombers, flighter aircrafts, helicopters,
missiles etc.
The historical operations of Boeing enterprise involved building of flying boats
especially for the Navy and production of various commercial airplanes. On the contrary, this
enterprise went into several series production, which in turn increased the flying speed.
Comparing their respective technology management strategies
Both these companies adopt different strategy for business planning. They implemented
new technologies for manufacturing their aircraft especially for defence purposes (Cetindamar,
Phaal and Probert 2016). The principles underlying technology management of these two
companies involves- innovating for meeting the requirement of ever-changing and fast-paced
global environment, innovating advanced technology solutions, improvement in quality as well
as productivity and making advanced design and production systems.
The strategies adopted by Airbus Group SE regarding technology management are to
push boundaries for better process in order to apply advanced technology for innovating their
products and services (Airbus 2018). On the contrary, the technology management strategies
adopted by Boeing involves -finding best way for producing high yield from their technology
investments, developing technologies cost-effectively and efficiently, innovating new products
by using new technology, building products with new design and optimizing technological
investments for delivering appropriate capability to business at right time (Boeing.com. 2018).

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DISCOVER DECIDE
DEVELOPDEPLOY
ENTERPRISE MARKET
Strategic planning methods
Portfolio management methods
Technology management
practices
Process improvement method
R&D
Figure 1: Flowchart of Technology management process of Boeing and Airbus
Source: (Cetindamar, Phaal and Probert 2016)
Conclusion
From the above report, it can be concluded that both Airbus Group SE and Boeing have
utilized modern technology for developing new products. They also adopt different technology
management strategies for differentiating and manufacturing new products. This in turn helps
them to gain competitive advantage against their rivalries.

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References
Airbus. (2018). Technology and Innovation. [online] Available at:
http://www.airbus.com/aircraft/passenger-aircraft/technology-innovation.html [Accessed 20
Mar. 2018].
Boeing.com. (2018). [online] Available at:
http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2007/august/cover04.pdf [Accessed 20 Mar.
2018].
Cetindamar, D., Phaal, R. and Probert, D., 2016. Technology management: activities and tools.
Palgrave Macmillan.
Thamhain, H.J., 2013. Management of technology: Managing effectively in technology-intensive
organizations. John Wiley & Sons.
Yu, G. ed., 2012. Operations research in the airline industry (Vol. 9). Springer Science &
Business Media.