Boeing Versus Airbus: The Inside Story of the Greatest International Competition in Business

by John Newhouse

Book Overview

The commercial airline industry is one of the most volatile, dog-eat-dog enterprises in the world, and in the late 1990s, Europe's Airbus overtook America's Boeing as the preeminent aircraft... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400043360
• ISBN13: 9781400043361
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 254 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.6" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful. Brillliant. Nimble. Relevant!

I purchased this book as an armchair airplane enthusiast (don't all boys love planes?) on the eve of the A380's landing in the USA. And I read the vast majority of the piece in the terminal of Portland International, riveted in front of the picture-view windows, the tarmac and winged creations of Newhouse's subject matter. I agree with the positive reviews of this work which appear on this board. I write separately to add that this book richly benefits from Newhouse's experience as a writer and presidential policy analyst. This obviously scored him private audiences with high-level managers of both corporations. Newhouse even gives you contents of phone calls! It is this high-level interviewing which, when joined with the superb writing, that makes this book completely unique. This book is not supposed to be a complete business school case study or narrative account of the aviation industry. In my line of work (I'm an attorney) I'm used to educating myself about the things that matter about my case; in this book I felt I learned enough about the corporate stories to make the people stories come to life (this industry appears driven by a type-A "bet the farm" mentality). And I just cannot say enough good things about the excellent use of the English language in this book. This page-turner delighted me.

Massive Case Study for Vital Industry

You fellow Bus.Ad. majors or those who have taken such courses, know the case study method. This is story of a market which became dominated by Boeing, but likely due to arrogance, complacency, merger and EU mkt. contender hungry to dethrone, created a volatile highly competitive twosome now vying for global jet market. Granted this is not well structured book, but the historical market sequence it describes is not so logical and structured as other reviewers might have desired. Trends are shown however, and followed-up and played out throughout the pages. Not knowing really anything about such a market, intrigued now by all the breaking drama: possible entry of Asian competitor from likely Japanese or Chinese; role of government subsidy; McDac culture change at Boeing. These and more are all unfolded as they chronoligally played themselves out. What strikes one as true weakness in American industry is our obsession with short-term profit/stock price versus market share. Interesting how intelligent market share aggression is managed so well by Japanese while not at the expense of profit nor technology. These are result of market share, not means. Yesterday's big news of A380's landings here took on perspective from this read. Locally interested in brief snippets about Ford's new head with a Boeing past. Great read

Facinating Look at two Industrial Powerhouses

First off this book is a lot heavier on Boeing than Airbus. Since Boeing is older and in the US it's understandable. I've been facinated by the war between the two companies for a while now. This book has finally filled in the gaps and more. It also led to the answer why Air Canada has 120 A320's that I flew on last month. And if that's a more confortable, modern airliner than the 737...then Boeing better bite the bullet and start desigining it's replacement! The book can get a little dry in places and there are an awful lot of names to keep track of. But those are few and far between and there is tonnes of facinating information. If you aren't a huge aerospace junky but have a casual interest then this book is for you. I find that I don't see airplanes quite the same as before I read this book.

Outstanding look behind the curtains-

Newhouse's previous book on commercial aviation, The Sporty Game, was an excellent overview of a highly secretive industry. This book is even better. He details not only the fierce rivalry between two profoundly dysfunctional companies, but the dogfights between engine manufacturers, airlines, aircraft leasing companies, low cost carriers, legacy airlines and so much more most of us never dream of when we shuffle on board a cramped tube full of humanity. He seems to have interviewed nearly everyone of consequence in the industry for this book. Highly recommended to anyone who wants to know what real high-stakes bet-the-house gambling is really like.

A fascinating look at the rivalry between Airbus and Boeing

Common wisdom states that Boeing is a commercial airline powerhouse, manufacturing the world's best planes with state of the art manufacturing processes, led by a first rate management staff. On the other side is Airbus, a bit-player whose survival has only been sustained via state-supported welfare programs, whose sponsors pour endless funds into this money-losing effort. In Boeing Versus Airbus: The Inside Story of the Greatest International Competition in Business, John Newhouse shows how both perceptions are erroneous. Boeing is far from being the world-class company most perceive it to be, and Airbus in fact makes some pretty good airplanes. The issue of Boeing vs. Airbus is one with significant consequences, and with a significant amount of interviewing and research, John Newhouse has written a fascinating and rewarding work on this most important topic. For anyone with an interest in the aviation industry, Boeing Versus Airbus is a most enjoyable and fascinating book. In chapter after chapter, the book details what goes on behind the door or Boeing and Airbus. Newhouse lays it on the table in chapter 1 when he notes that when Airbus outsold Boeing in 2004 and 2005, the root cause of this historic juxtaposition was that Boeing's troubles were the result of a number of factors; from their arrogance, a tendency to rest on their laurels, taking their customers for granted, combined with a corporate culture enmeshed in politics. Boeing then realized the depths of its problems and attempted to change its course. This, combined with bad-luck and mismanagement at Airbus, contributed to Airbus finding itself a distant number two in 2006. So much so that Airbus NA President Henri Courpron lamented that Airbus failed to manage being number one. Airbus made the same mistake Boeing made earlier; they got caught looking back, not ahead. Newhouse notes that the success of Airbus was not that it is inherently lucky or unlucky. Rather, Airbus was building very good airplanes and doing in a less expensive manner than Boeing, and with a much smaller workforce. Airbus basically took pages from Boeing's playbook and beat them at their own game. Chapter 3 details what has long been a thorn in Boeing's side - government subsidies to Airbus. For years, Boeing has complained that government subsidies gave Airbus an unfair advantage. Boeing has brought this issue up with various US government officials and has also taken this issue to the WTO. Newhouse notes that most of the arguments on either side of the subsidies question were complex, often more than a little contrived, and often unconvincing. It is Newhouse's opinion that Boeing was mistaken in constantly bringing up the subsidy issue, especially when the situation and timing was irrelevant. On the other side, Airbus has long contended that Boeing receives similar government support, albeit in a different manner. Airbus maintains that US technology flows back and forth between the milita