In the 'golden age of flying' it was not unknown for passengers to buy life insurance (or, more accurately, 'death insurance') for their flight before boarding; if I had to fly on a 737 Max - and on some airlines you don't get a choice - I'd almost be tempted to do that, but I imagine it would cost rather a lot.
If the bean counters had their way, we would never have had the DC-3, DH Mosquito, or Boeing 747...
Geoff
If the bean counters had their way, we would never have had the DC-3, DH Mosquito, or Boeing 747...
Geoff
This sums it up.
Boeing lost money, wasted years of time, and also lost their most precious asset: their reputation. My prediction is that from now forward Boeing's reputation is caca.
This is a repeat of American automaker's demise. They diddled for decades, polishing turds, and now they're a laughingstock, even at home. They can't even come close to competing with Japanese automakers on their own turf. It's disgraceful.
I don't know about other parts of the world but in the US it seems 99% of products are garbage. It's all about "make it cheap af so everyone can afford it so we have market share and shareholders are happy". The quality is so poor it's laughable. I basically don't buy anything anymore because I know it will be a turd. The DIY store is one of the few exceptions lol.
It’s what happens when great companies become consumed with shareholder value at the expense of everything else. When I worked as a VP for a Nasdaq listed corporation, our stock price went from c $14 to $120 over a six yr period and it was done mostly through financial engineering, not producing great products. The pressure and stress to produce ever more profit and pump up the stock price was immense. I won’t go into details, but this is happening all over in listed companies and the results are corners are being cut, product quality is suffering and experienced, savvy folks are leaving or getting fired for calling the bs out.
How can a company that does $16 billion in annual sales get a market cap of over half a trillion $ (Nvidia)? Tesla were valued at one stage at over $800 billion. There is no way on God’s green Earth these companies 10 yr EBITDA is anything near this. And it’s this overvaluation that is driving all the wrong behaviours in industry and leading to corporate decline.
Here in the UK it’s become fashionable in certain corners to sneer at European companies as laggards because there’s no Silicon Vallley tech giants. But European companies have a very long history of producing fine products and services and I don’t see that going away. ImportantLY, there is less of stock price pumping culture and that makes a difference IMV.
Guess who ran Ford into the ground during the 1950s? None other than Harvard MBA Robert McNamara, also known for managing the splendid victory of the Vietnam War, and his "whiz kids" at Ford later metastasized across the business landscape.
Meanwhile Japan has to cope with a serious dearth of business schools teaching High! Performance! Management!, which is why nobody drives their cars. Or uses their cameras. Or rides their trains. Shed a tear for the sons of Nippon, woefully devoid of MBAs showing them how it should be done.
This appears to be as good as any explanation of business in recent years/decades. I only hope the forum software's anti-swearing feature doesn't totally obscure the four-letter word embedded here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification
This discusses online platforms, but I think it applies to many large businesses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification
This discusses online platforms, but I think it applies to many large businesses.
I take personal offense at that. We are a US manufacturer and are "six sigma" have spent two decades getting there. We have an entire supply chain in the US and Europe supporting us.
I didn't say "all" or "100%". If you guys are bucking the trend, I'm glad you're doing so. But if you want to be offended, there's nothing I can do about that.
The problem lies in manufacturers being Walmarted to death. It takes a bit of courage to send the Waltons away with a flea in their ear when they show up with their mafia "nice bidness ya got dere, be a shame if sumtin happen ta it." This twenty year old article is still valid, except now you can add Amazon to the mix, selling knockoffs at a fraction of real articles' prices.
Cheap has a cost and you will pay. Maybe not now, but soon. It's like airline tickets: everyone complains about being herded like cattle into tiny seats, but ticket prices are much lower after inflation. The better seats in premium economy are pretty well a wash when using inflation-adjusted dollars. So: same price, essentially the same experience. Pay less for cattle class.
Cheap has a cost and you will pay. Maybe not now, but soon. It's like airline tickets: everyone complains about being herded like cattle into tiny seats, but ticket prices are much lower after inflation. The better seats in premium economy are pretty well a wash when using inflation-adjusted dollars. So: same price, essentially the same experience. Pay less for cattle class.
German companies are stingy with dividends, nobody minds, they keep money in reserve.
The USA seems to think quarterly returns and share price are the yardsticks of success.
Don't worry, the 'investment fund' managers and their short sighted attitude have destroyed many companies, and will do so in the future.
Look at housing, for instance, the price for a house has gone up in recent times, in terms of how many years salary it takes to buy a house...from 3 it seems to have gone above 6, and there are reports that a company with links to Bill Gates is buying houses all over the USA at silly prices...an attempted monopoly?
A financial collapse at Boeing, and in housing seems imminent to me.
The USA seems to think quarterly returns and share price are the yardsticks of success.
Don't worry, the 'investment fund' managers and their short sighted attitude have destroyed many companies, and will do so in the future.
Look at housing, for instance, the price for a house has gone up in recent times, in terms of how many years salary it takes to buy a house...from 3 it seems to have gone above 6, and there are reports that a company with links to Bill Gates is buying houses all over the USA at silly prices...an attempted monopoly?
A financial collapse at Boeing, and in housing seems imminent to me.
Boeing took the market for granted, Airbus did not.
Even when Airbus built a plant in the USA, they did nothing ...should have designed a 787 style composite frame aircraft to replace the 737.
They got complacent, and played the finance market.
Look up the Chinese Y-8 and Y-9 planes, lessons in evolution and improvement, of course no investors involved!
Here we had a company called Anchor, electrical stuff, sales were 6 Billion Rupees...Panasonic paid 20 Billion to the owners, five years no - compete clause...they are back with Great White after 5 years.
The profit after all expenses would bave been in the region of 1 Billion, easily achieved by putting 20 Billion in the bank.
So I wonder at Panasonic's decision...it is a private company here, so I do not have information about the wisdom of that decision.
And when monkeys are in charge of the zoo, playing with somebody else's money, best to bail out.
Even when Airbus built a plant in the USA, they did nothing ...should have designed a 787 style composite frame aircraft to replace the 737.
They got complacent, and played the finance market.
Look up the Chinese Y-8 and Y-9 planes, lessons in evolution and improvement, of course no investors involved!
Here we had a company called Anchor, electrical stuff, sales were 6 Billion Rupees...Panasonic paid 20 Billion to the owners, five years no - compete clause...they are back with Great White after 5 years.
The profit after all expenses would bave been in the region of 1 Billion, easily achieved by putting 20 Billion in the bank.
So I wonder at Panasonic's decision...it is a private company here, so I do not have information about the wisdom of that decision.
And when monkeys are in charge of the zoo, playing with somebody else's money, best to bail out.
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