From what I understand, a big part of what’s happening with Boeing, is that Boeing is run by Business person who want to maximize return of stock-owner rather than by people wanting to make a good product. The gained flexibility/nicer budget from massive sub-contracting led to “loss of knowledge”, and cutting-down quality control steps which “never catch anything” led to issue being missed-out.
Do you think that MBA program will take this reality into account ? or would they keep focusing on maximizing short-term profit even if it jeopardize the company’s future ?
There are a lot of examples recently of respected legacy companies being turned into hollow husks of their former selves (or even going out of business entirely) due to finance bros. Sears, Paramount, Toys R Us, Warner Bros, Red Lobster, Twitter, Reddit (ok maybe stretching the definition of “respected”), and now Boeing, among many, many others.
Will it change anything among that class of people? Probably not. The spectre of Jack Welch still looms large over the business world, incentivizing short-term slash-and-burn flash over long-term productive smolder. The type of person who’s inclined toward this kind of con will still pursue it, and there are enough people of low scruples who will get the dollar signs in their eyes.
But with any luck, it will take the luster off enough that people will stop playing along; and they’ll run out of money sooner or later.
It’s already starting to happen. The Onion was bought back from private equity earlier this summer, and the new owners are taking a lot of steps that no PE would ever consider; essentially they’re just looking to stay afloat, not trying to cancerously pursue unchecked growth.
If you want another good example of positive ‘capitalism’ check out Sam Reich and Dropout.
His father is Robert Reich (Former Secretary of Labor).
Sam is expanding Dropout at a sustainable rate. since its founding it’s had only one or 2 price hikes bringing the cost from like 3.99 to 5.99.
And they weren’t just arbitrary hikes. We got a lot of new content as a result.
He takes care of his employees. And more importantly he cares about his employees as people.
YES, absolutely! Sam and Dropout are an excellent success story. They make a thing ethically and charge a fair price for it, people who want it pay them for it. If we can normalize that again, the world will work a lot better.