International Journal of Research in Engineering, Science and Management 116

Volume-3, Issue-9, September-2020

A Case Study on Boeing's 737 MAX Crisis on

Abstract: American multinational corporation Boeing is one of recent past. Lion Air Flight 610 that took off from Jakarta,
the reputed organizations in the field of aerospace manufacturing. Indonesia crashed into the Java Sea on October 29th, 2018
Since its inception by William Boeing in Seattle, Washington in killing all 189 passengers and crew. About five months hence,
July 15th, 1916, it has surpassed several milestones and grown
from strength to strength. It started its venture in areas such as Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 that took off from Addis Ababa,
designing and crafting airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites and Ethiopia crashed near the town of Bishoftu ending lives of all
also stepped into production of telecommunications equipment, 157 people aboard on March 10th, 2019. The two horrific
missiles and made a mark in every field of operation. It has a incidents sent a shockwave across the aviation industry
revered status in Dow Jones Industrial Average and made a worldwide, triggered innumerable investigations and grounded
glaring presence in the Fortune Global 500 list. But the global numerous Boeing 737 Max jets globally. Both crashed jets were
recognition got eclipsed after fatal crashes in October 2018 and
March 2019. Boeing 737 Max planes remained grounded across of fuel-efficient and cost-effective Boeing 737 Max 8 version
the world for more than a year. The culpability was overlooking touted as the bestselling aircraft in the history of Boeing. In
of safety features, hiding the new anti-stall system from pilots, spite of two horrific tragedies there was a delayed response
circumvention of standard certification rigours by Federal from US govt. under President Donald Trump and the Federal
Aviation Administration, in the hustle of launching ill-prepared Aviation Administration (FAA) refused to act. Investigators
product into the market to beat arch rival Airbus. Product suspected technical glitches and latent design flaws in the
malfunction also hinted at systematic problems that needed to be
addressed. The company thereby faced lawsuits and claims for Boeing 737 Max jet aircrafts. However, Boeing leadership was
compensation. The investigations by FBI began and the House and in denial and shifted the blame onto the pilots. However, the
Senate panels too joined in the foray. Losses worth billions of real cause of crisis lied with the unholy culture of the
dollars had been incurred along with displacement of trust and organisation which went onto cover up the fact and
support of loyal customers, severe decline in share price and compromised ethical standard, integrity and safety and also
market capital and ignominy for being short-sighted and took value of human lives for granted completely.
lackadaisical in its approach. The outbreak of global pandemic led
to further delay in their recovery as demand for fuel efficient 737
Max plummeted due to fall in oil price and delay or cancellation 2. Case Presentation
by airlines in buying Boeing planes without being penalised. Since the introduction of 737 class of aircraft in the year
1967, Boeing manufactured and delivered over 10,000 aircrafts
Keywords: Boeing company, Delayed recovery, Faulty
certification, Loss and defamation, 737 Max Jet, Plane mishap, to airlines across the world. It turned out to be cash cow of the
Quality compromise. organisation. The blip in the radar happened when company
noticed that rival Airbus launched A320neo jetliner with a
1. Introduction claim of being superior fuel efficient short-haul airplane. Senior
Chicago based Boeing had been a prestigious American leaders realized the possible shrink in market share and
multinational for its leading contribution in designing, therefore swung into action. Nine months later, Boeing
construction and selling of airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, launched the 737 MAX to take the opponent head-on. Company
satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles across promoted new jetliner with a hype that new model would be
the world. It was founded by William Boeing in July 15, 1916 15% fuel efficient.
and expanded manifold crossing significant milestones. Boeing In its rivalry with opponent Airbus to capture the market with
maintained its leading market share in North America and Asia fuel efficient short-haul airplane, Boeing overlooked safety
Pacific due to heavy investment in research and development. standards. Both Boeing and FAA were not meticulous on the
However, the reputation of more than hundred years of this integrity and safety context and were in a mad rush to launch
aircraft manufacturing company faced a severe jolt as 346 lives the ill-prepared product into the market. Senior leaders were
were lost in two fatal crashes of Boeing 737 Max aircrafts in short sighted with its myopic concern of speed and power
accompanied with revenue and profit. Boeing had long been
 International Journal of Research in Engineering, Science and Management 117
Volume-3, Issue-9, September-2020
journals.resaim.com/ijresm | ISSN (Online): 2581-5792 | RESAIM Publishing

blighted by culture of concealment, cost cutting and regulatory the company for its reckless and callous corporate culture. The
oversight issues. Production had been halted for beleaguered planes were grounded, production got hung up and delivery of
737 Max jet in December 2019, market capitalization Boeing jetliners were deferred. For about 18 months’ delivery
plummeted by $55 billion as stock price plunged by 23% since of 737 Max was stalled which led to net loss of $2.40 billion
the Ethiopian crash in March 2019 which led to Boeing CEO tantamount to $4.20 per share. The loss also leads to
Dennis A. Muilenburg stepping down on charges of gross retrenchment; 10% jobs were expected to be truncated which
mismanagement in December 2019. Boeing then suffered from would impact 16,000 positions across the company. As per
production loss and shrunken market-share due to brand current CEO Dave Calhoun the pandemic wreaked havoc on the
ignominy. The compensation for victims and disgruntled company’s performance and prospect which led to the
customers ran into millions of dollars and creditors were announcement of voluntary layoff package for 70,000
impatient to collect million-dollar settlement of debt as fear employees.
sprouted about collapse of the company. A glimpse of the
decadence of the aircraft stalwart Boeing is reflected in the 4. Discussion and Conclusion
following Exhibit –I. In the history of the corporate world, there are no dearth of
A. Exhibit I: Boeing Company net profit/loss status cases related to unethical practices, botched-up leadership,
compromise on quality, subversion of safety measure and
company failure. Boeing's 737 MAX crisis is an addition to this
list of debacles. The century old company overlooked its market
standing, worldwide reputation and brought unforeseen
misfortune with its irreparable indecision. In its urgency to be
competitive, comply market demand and outwit opponent,
Boeing compelled Federal Aviation Administration for
approval of design and issuance of safety certification. There
was complete ignorance of problem related to Maneuvering
Characteristics Augmentation System anti-stalling system and
faulty data feed by Angle of Attack (AOA) sensor. To keep pace
with rival Airbus, Boeing didn’t care about much-needed pilot
training. Boeing even failed to mention about changes in the
new model of aircraft in Flight Crew Operations Manual. There
was no reference about compulsory flight simulator training.
Due to this deliberate suppression of fact, pilot were clueless
The above exhibit of profit/loss incurred by the Boeing when the plane behaved erratically midair as bad sensor data
clearly indicates the dwindling status of the American remained useless. The inevitable thus happened and the
behemoth aerospace manufacturer. Throughout 2018 Boeing dreadful crashes of Boeing 737 Max aircraft ended the lives of
registered profit ranging from 2 to more than 3 billion dollars. 346 passengers and crew. The condemnable stubborn culture of
However, towards the end of 2018 it began its trend of losses concealment and denial failed to find the mistake. U.S.
which got better in the beginning of 2019 but plunged into Department of Transportation (DOT) unearthed through their
losses again after second plane crash in a span of 5 months in investigation the shoddy engineering, undiscerning cost
March 2019. Investigation, cancellation of order, suspension on reduction and appeasement of government regulators by the
delivery, worldwide grounding of Boeing 737 Max jets, Boeing leadership. The blame was laid to Boeing CEO, Dennis
litigation expense, hefty compensation to families of crash Muilenburg and he was terminated by the board in December
victims and their families led to the airline incurring significant 2019. Boeing 737 Max fiasco revealed systemic error of
losses. The situation further aggravated in the wake of the corporate culture, non-compliance of safety and quality
COVID 19 outbreak when the travel ban dimmed the prospect measure and overall failure of corporate governance for
of any quicker recovery in the year 2020. Boeing finally rested American aircraft giant. Compensation worth of million dollars,
on its defence business as revival of Max jet business was litigation expenses, billions in debt and staggering losses have
delayed. left unforgettable lessons for the company to learn. Unless the
trust of clients, confidence of travellers, and credibility of
3. Management and Outcome creditors and respect of investors are restored, Boeing would
languish in its indelible blunder in years to come.
Boeing which has had a glorious flight since its
commencement is facing the worst possible situation post the References
two horrendous crashes in late 2018 and in the beginning of
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 International Journal of Research in Engineering, Science and Management 118
Volume-3, Issue-9, September-2020
journals.resaim.com/ijresm | ISSN (Online): 2581-5792 | RESAIM Publishing
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