Boeing's E-Enabled Advantage Mba Case Analysis for Mis

January 31, 2011

Boeing’s e-Enabled Advantage: Case Analysis Report

Word Count: 1,213

Key Issues

In spite of decades of success, in the late 1990s Boeing suffered an outdated business model in a turbulent business environment with significant competition. Boeing needed product diversification to weather the cyclical patterns of the aerospace industry and needed to act quickly to sustain market position into the 21st century.

Boeings three key issues were:

1. Could e-Enabling create the kind of sustainable advantage that the airplanes used to provide?

2. And would the advantage be able to withstand the competition so close at hand?

3. Would Boeing’s transition into services prove to be the silver bullet – the solution to the airlines’ financial woes and to Boeing’s aggressive competition with Airbus?

Recommendations and Implementation

1) Creating a Sustainable Advantage:

Through a series of management changes, program designs and marketing campaigns, exploration and enhancement, Boeing was able to remain in the top two market positions going into 2000s. Through Commercial Aviation Services (CAS) and e-Enabled operations services, Boeing successfully diversified and secured a spot for itself in the service industry.

e-Enabled operations was really a model for what Boeing attempted to accomplish as an organization through promotions, information sharing/restructuring (more lateral by division versus organizational silo) and innovative service products – synchronization of all production and management processes.

e-Enabled operations worked to integrate all aspects of operations and management to produce more efficient workflow processes – from parts ordering and maintenance to integrated tracking/comms systems which connected the planes to various government agencies’ flight control centers – allowing for real time tracking of the planes. Boeing realized substantial cost savings and hoped to parlay that into cost savings for others through...