What are the benefits to Boeing of outsourcing manufacturing of components of the Boeing 787 to firms based in other countries? On balance, do you think that the kind of out

Case Analysis #1

1. Reread the Management Focus “Boeing’s Global Production System” in Chapter 1 and address these two questions:

· What are the benefits to Boeing of outsourcing manufacturing of components of the Boeing 787 to firms based in other countries?

· On balance, do you think that the kind of outsourcing undertaken by Boeing is a good thing or a bad thing for the American economy? Explain your reasoning.

2. Reread the Management FOCUS: “Starbucks Wins Key Trademark Case in China” in Chapter 2 and address these two questions:

· Discuss the concept of property rights protection and why it is so important to companies. What does the court ruling against Xing Ba Ke mean for other companies that are already doing business in China, or are considering entering the market?

· How important is the Chinese market to Starbucks? Does the presence of look-alike companies like Xing Ba Ke deter firms from entering the market?

3. Reread the Closing Case “Economic Development in Bangladesh” in Chapter 3 and address this question:

· Explain how the liberalization program in the 1990s enabled Bangladesh to start climbing the ladder of economic progress.

Cases Analyses must follow the following guidelines:

1. You must give a quality analysis of the cases based on the key terms showing mastery, using clear logic, and supporting facts. Also, the analysis must directly address the case using chapter readings and research.

2. Case Analyses test the understanding of key elements of International Business, therefore, they must be thoroughly addressed.

3. You must use citations with references to document information obtained from sources. The key elements and concepts of International Business are found in the sources listed in the syllabus (it is your duty to search for them, read, analyze, evaluate, summarize, paraphrase in your answers, and cite the authors who wrote the articles, books, term papers, memoirs, studies, etc. What it means is that you will have not less than 5 references from the listed sources.

4. Grammatically correct paper, no typos, and must have obviously been proofread for logic.

5. Avoid direct quotes, you must paraphrase and cite. If you direct quote (two words or three words, mission statements, phrases, etc.) you must include in your citation parenthesis page number or paragraph number. When you direct quote Brand taglines or Mission Statements, you must include the Brand name or Company name in the citation parenthesis.

6. Key terms or Questions must be typed out as headings, with follow up analysis or answers in paragraph format, and a summary or conclusion to contextualize your analyses at the end of the paper.

The Cases Analyses must be in APA format and it is due no later than the specified time

*Management Focus: Boeing’s Global Production System

Executives at the Boeing Corporation, America’s largest exporter, say that building a large commercial jet aircraft like the 787 Dreamliner involves bringing together more than a million parts in flying formation. Half a century ago, when the early models of Boeing’s venerable 737 and 747 jets were rolling off the company’s Seattle-area production lines, foreign suppliers accounted for only 5 percent of those parts on average. Boeing was vertically integrated and manufactured many of the major components that went into the planes. The largest parts produced by outside suppliers were the jet engines, where two of the three suppliers were American companies. The lone foreign engine manufacturer was the British company Rolls-Royce.

Fast-forward to the modern era, and things look very different. In the case of Boeing’s superefficient 787 Dreamliner, 50 outside suppliers spread around the world account for 65 percent of the value of the aircraft. Italian firm Alenia Aeronautica makes the center fuselage and horizontal stabilizer. Kawasaki of Japan makes part of the forward fuselage and the fixed trailing edge of the wing. French firm Messier-Dowty makes the aircraft’s landing gear. German firm Diehl Luftahrt Elektronik supplies the main cabin lighting. Sweden’s Saab Aerostructures makes the access doors. Japanese company Jamco makes parts for the lavatories, flight deck interiors, and galleys. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan makes the wings. KAA of Korea makes the wing tips. And so on.

Why the change? One reason is that 80 percent of Boeing’s customers are foreign airlines, and to sell into those nations, it often helps to be giving business to those nations. The trend started in 1974 when Mitsubishi of Japan was given contracts to produce inboard wing flaps for the 747. The Japanese reciprocated by placing big orders for Boeing jets. A second rationale was to disperse component part production to those suppliers who are the best in the world at their particular activity. Over the years, for example, Mitsubishi has acquired considerable expertise in the manufacture of wings, so it was logical for Boeing to use Mitsubishi to make the wings for the 787. Similarly, the 787 is the first commercial jet aircraft to be made almost entirely out of carbon fiber, so Boeing tapped Japan’s Toray Industries, a world-class expert in sturdy but light carbon-fiber composites, to supply materials for the fuselage. A third reason for the extensive outsourcing on the 787 was that Boeing wanted to unburden itself of some of the risks and costs associated with developing production facilities for the 787. By outsourcing, it pushed some of those risks and costs onto suppliers, who had to undertake major investments in capacity to ramp up to produce for the 787.

So what did Boeing retain for itself? Engineering design, marketing and sales, and final assembly are done at its Everett plant north of Seattle, all activities where Boeing maintains it is the best in the world. Of major component parts, Boeing made only the tail fin and wing to body fairing (which attaches the wings to the fuselage of the plane). Everything else was outsourced.

As the 787 moved through development, it became clear that Boeing had pushed the outsourcing paradigm too far. Coordinating a globally dispersed production system this extensive turned out to be very challenging. Parts turned up late, some parts didn’t “snap together” the way Boeing had envisioned, and several suppliers ran into engineering problems that slowed down the entire production process. As a consequence, the date for delivery of the first jet was pushed back more than four years, and Boeing had to take millions of dollars in penalties for late deliveries. The problems at one supplier, Vought Aircraft in North Carolina, were so severe that Boeing ultimately agreed to acquire the company and bring its production in-house. Vought was co-owned by Alenia of Italy and made parts of the main fuselage.

There are now signs that Boeing is rethinking some of its global outsourcing policy. For its next jet, a new version of its popular wide-bodied 777 jet, the 777X, which will use the same carbon fiber technology as the 787, Boeing will bring wing production back in-house. Mitsubishi and Kawasaki of Japan produce much of the wing structure for the 787 and for the original version of the 777. However, recently Japan’s airlines have been placing large orders with Airbus, breaking with their traditional allegiance to Boeing. This seems to have given Boeing an opening to bring wing production back in-house. Boeing executives also note that Boeing has lost much of its expertise in wing production over the last 20 years due to outsourcing and bringing it back in-house for new carbon-fiber wings might enable Boeing to regain these important core skills and strengthen the company’s competitive position.

Sources: M. Ehrenfreund, “The Economic Reality Behind the Boeing Plane Trump Showed

Off,” The Washington Post, February 17, 2017; K. Epstein and J. Crown, “Globalization Bites

Boeing,” Bloomberg Businessweek, March 12, 2008; H. Mallick, “Out of Control Outsourcing

Ruined Boeing’s Beautiful Dreamliner,” The Star, February 25, 2013; P. Kavilanz, “Dreamliner:

Where in the World Its Parts Come From,” CNN Money, January 18, 2013; S. Dubois, “Boeing’s

Dreamliner Mess: Simply Inevitable?” CNN Money, January 22, 2013; and A. Scott and T. Kelly, “Boeing’s Loss of a $9.5 Billion Deal Could Bring Jobs Back to the U.S.,” Business Insider, October 14, 2013

*Management Focus: Starbucks Wins Key Trademark Case in China

Starbucks has big plans for China. It believes the fast-growing nation will become the company’s

second-largest market after the United States. Starbucks entered the country in 1999, and by the end of 2016 it had opened more than 1,300 stores. But in China, copycats of well-established Western brands are common. Starbucks faced competition from a look-alike, Shanghai Xing Ba Ke Coffee Shop, whose stores closely matched the Starbucks format, right down to a green-and-white Xing Ba Ke circular logo that mimics Starbucks’ ubiquitous logo. The name also mimics the standard Chinese translation for Starbucks. Xing means “star,” and Ba Ke sounds like “bucks.”

In 2003, Starbucks decided to sue Xing Ba Ke in Chinese court for trademark violations. Xing Ba Ke’s general manager responded by claiming it was just an accident that the logo and name were so similar to that of Starbucks. He claimed the right to use the logo and name because Xing Ba Ke had registered as a company in Shanghai in 1999, before Starbucks entered the city. “I hadn’t heard of Starbucks at the time,” claimed the manager, “so how could I imitate its brand and logo?”

However, in January 2006, a Shanghai court ruled that Starbucks had precedence, in part because it had registered its Chinese name in 1998. The court stated that Xing Ba Ke’s use of the name and similar logo was “clearly malicious” and constituted improper competition. The court

ordered Xing Ba Ke to stop using the name and to pay Starbucks $62,000 in compensation. While the money involved here may be small, the precedent is not. In a country where violation of trademarks has been common, the courts seem to be signaling a shift toward greater protection of intellectual property rights. This is perhaps not surprising because foreign governments and the World Trade Organization have been pushing China hard recently to start respecting intellectual property rights.

Sources: M. Dickie, “Starbucks Wins Case against Chinese Copycat,” Financial Times, January 3, 2006, p. 1; “Starbucks: Chinese Court Backs Company over Trademark Infringement,” The Wall Street Journal, January 2, 2006, p. A11; and “Starbucks Calls China Its Top Growth Focus,” The Wall Street Journal, February 14, 2006, p. 1.

*Economic Development in Bangladesh (closing case)

When Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan in 1971 after a brutal civil war that may have left as many as 3 million dead, the U.S. National Security Adviser, Henry Kissinger, referred to the country as a “basket case.” Kissinger’s assessment was accurate enough. At the time, Bangladesh was one of the world’s poorest nations. Although most of the country is dominated by the fertile Ganges-Brahmaputra delta, a lack of other natural resources, coupled with poor infrastructure, political instability, and high levels of corruption, long held the country back. To compound matters, Bangladesh is prone to natural disasters. Most of Bangladesh is less than 12 meters above sea level. The extensive low-lying areas are vulnerable to tropical cyclones, floods, and tidal bores.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, however, Bangladesh began to climb the ladder of economic

progress. From the early 2000s onward, the country grew its economy at around 6 percent per

annum compounded. Today, this Muslim majority country of 160 million people has joined the

ranks of lower-middle-income nations. Poverty reduction has been dramatic, with the percentage of the population living in poverty falling from 44.2 percent in 1991 to 18.5 percent in 2010, an

achievement that raised 20.5 million people out of abject poverty. Today the country ranks 64th out of the 154 countries included in the World Bank’s global poverty database. It has a considerable way to go, but it is no longer one of the world’s poorest countries.

Several reasons underlie Bangladesh’s relative economic success. In its initial post-independence period, Bangladesh adopted socialist policies, nationalizing many companies and subsidizing the costs of agricultural production and basic food products. These policies failed to deliver the anticipated gains. Policy reforms in the 1980s were directed toward the withdrawal of food and agricultural subsidies, the privatization of state-owned companies, financial liberalization, and the withdrawal of some import restrictions. Further reforms aimed at liberalizing the economy were launched in the 1990s. These included making the currency convertible (which led to a floating exchange rate in 2003), reducing import duties to much lower levels, and removing most of the controls on the movement of foreign private capital (which allowed for more foreign direct investment). The reforms of the 1990s coincided with the transition to a parliamentary democracy from semi-autocratic rule.

Bangladesh’s private sector has expanded rapidly since then. Leading the growth has been the country’s vibrant textile sector, which is now the second-largest exporter of ready-made garments in the world after China. Textiles account for 80 percent of Bangladesh’s exports. The development of the textile industry has been helped by the availability of low-cost labor, managerial skills, favorable trade agreements, and government policies that eliminated import duties on inputs for the textile business, such as raw materials. The Bangladesh economy has also benefited from its productive agricultural sector and remittances from more than 10 million Bangladesh citizens who work in other nations. Bangladesh is also home of the microfinance movement, which has enabled entrepreneurs with no prior access to the banking system to borrow small amounts of capital to start businesses.

This being said, the country still faces considerable impediments to sustaining its growth. Infrastructure remains poor; corruption continues to be a major problem; and the political system is, at best, an imperfect democracy where opposition is stifled. The country is too dependent upon its booming textile sector and needs to diversify its industrial base. Bangladesh is also one of the countries most prone to the adverse affects of climate change. A one-meter rise in sea level would leave an estimated 10 percent of the country under water and increase the potential for damaging floods in much of the remainder. Nevertheless, according to the U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs, Bangladesh is one of the 11 lower-middle-income nations poised for sustained growth.

Sources: W. Mahmud, S. Ahmed, and S. Mahajan, “Economic Reforms, Growth, and Governance: The Political Economy Aspects of Bangladesh’s Development Surprise,” World Bank Commission on Development and Growth, 2008; “Freedom in the World 2016,” Freedom House; “Tiger in the Night,” The Economist, October 15, 2016; Sanjay Kathuria, “How Will Bangladesh Reach High Levels of Prosperity?” World Bank blog, January 5, 2017; and Qimiao Fan, “Bangladesh: Setting a Global Standard in Ending Poverty,” World Bank blog, October 5, 2016.

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