Boeing Business Activity (Coursework Sample)

BOEING COMPANY’S BUSINESS ACTIVITY
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Competitive Analysis
The Boeing Company is a household name among the aerospace companies in the world. Besides the commercial aircrafts like 787 Dreamliner, they manufacture military aircrafts which include the Chinook, Apache and the Osprey as well as satellites, launch systems and missile defense systems (Hoovers.com, 2015). These products have built them portfolio services and brought to them corporate customers like the United States department of defense and NASA and they as well provide financing and leasing services to commercial and military customers.
Aircraft Industry Globalization
The airline industry is rapidly becoming global because of few players but high competition and big capital requirements are driving the need to maximize volume to tap all possible markets (Classes.soe.ucse.edu, 2015). It is therefore not imaginable to have regional or national strategies and succeed in the industry. Many customers among which governments consider this industry strategic and as a consequence there are several joint ventures to the fact that deals, and mergers have becomes almost a requirement to remove barriers to trading.
Boeing Competitors
Today the commercial jet aircraft markets is very competitive and the airline industry is also extremely competitive and so Boeing is faced with very aggressive international competitors who have intention of increasing on their market shares and such companies include Airbus, Embraer and the Bombardier (Bga – aeroweb.com, 2015). Other competitors for Boeing include some new entrants like Irkut (United Aircraft Corporation) from Russia, COMAC from China and Honda Aircraft and Mitsubishi aircrafts from Japan. Boeing is therefore focused on improvement of their processes as well cutting costs of running their business.
SWOT Analysis
Boeing is the world’s leader in aerospace outfits and is leading manufacturer of commercial jetliners as well as military aircrafts with more than 174,000 employees and they have annual revenues close to USD$ 85 billion.
Strengths
Among the strengths of the company is their Robust Commercial Order Book which has led to their brisk demand for new airplanes like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner which has seen aircrafts being upgraded more often than before. This is expected to trend into the future due to competition, low interest rates and the heightened emphasis on light fuel efficient aircraft designs. Other strengths include the KC – 46 tanker program whose success is based on 767 jetliner and supporting results from their defense, space and security segment, and their financially sound and friendly shareholding which has maintained a good balance sheet and ranked at A++.
Weaknesses
Their high expenditure on research and development. Boeing tries to keep their expenditure in check but it has remained high on R&D which squeezes margins and thus penalizes the bottom line. While such pressures may ease over the next few months, they envisage high expenditure as they endeavor to leverage the 737 and 777 platforms.
Their pension load is a hefty USD$75 billion which is more than fair value of assets and it forces them to continue dipping into their earnings to cover costs for retiring workers and this drains their profits.
The company execution is spotty at times especially regarding the 787 program which began with rough start.
Opportunities
After the financial crisis, Boeing has been in recovery mode over the last few years and they are buoyed by demand, stable prices of fuels as well as improved macroeconomic backdrop. They are also considering new planes rather than deferring bulk of their deliveries.
The 787 Dreamliner has been plagued by delays and execution problems in the United States and other countries ye...