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In the early 2000s, US based Boeing; the world's largest aerospace company lost its title of "the world's largest supplier of commercial aircraft" to Airbus. The key for Airbus success was its long term plan to come up with new models of different aircraft segments. Whereas for Boeing, since the introduction of B-777 in 1994, ten years passed without the introduction of any new line of aircrafts in its product line. Also, the aggressive marketing strategy for its A-320 family of aircrafts by Airbus in the form of undercutting Boeing's 737 aircraft price to make entry into the discount carrier market was giving it the number advantage over Boeing in the smaller aircraft segment. Another possible factor for Boeing losing the top position could be the help from British, French, German and Spanish government to Airbus in the form of development loans and different types of other subsidies.
To gain back control in the aviation market Boeing decided to bring a game changer product, the Boeing 787 aircraft which consists of 50 percent composite materials make up and 20 percent more fuel efficient than any other mid- sized aircraft. For making such a revolutionary product one requires lot of investment and technological up-gradation, which is always a risky affair in financial terms. To bring its new product quickly into market, and to reduce its financial risk Boeing decided to built a global supply chain for its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircrafts. Companies from countries such as Canada, Italy, Australia, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Germany, etc., are part of Boeings 787 global supply chain.
But in recent years, the B-787 Dreamliner has taken a hit because of the battery fire in two planes making the regulators around the world to ground all the fifty operating Dreamliners for some time. Boeing's engineers are blaming the multi tier global supply chain for the faults in the aircraft, where the top tiers of 50 suppliers were made responsible for managing their sub-contractors. As per a Boeing 787's electrical engineer the cheap poor quality plastic power panels supplied by subcontractors was the cause of the battery failure. Earlier also the Dreamliner had faced multiple supply chain problems which delayed the planes debut for more than three years and also...