Boeing Hopes for the Future

The company I chose for my social listening blog post is Boeing.  Like Nike, Starbucks, and Costco, Boeing is a well-known corporate institution in the Pacific Northwest.   

The company's CTO recently revealed to Nikkei Asia that the company plans on entering the flying car market in Asia by 2030 in order to meet the burgeoning demand for "fast, short distance travel."  The company is developing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) through one of their subsidiaries.  Under most normal circumstances, this would be great news for the company; new innovations in different parts of the world to explore new markets and new rising needs.  

However, Boeing has been doing severe damage control since one of its plane's door plugs blew out over Portland back in January.  Thankfully nobody was hurt, but people lost their phones, and one kid had his shirt ripped off.

To make matters even more complicated, last month a whistleblower in the middle of a deposition was found dead in his car outside of his hotel in South Carolina.  The death was ruled a suicide.

Since January there have been other incidents of Boeing aircraft not making it to their destination completely intact, and they have come under intense public scrutiny, including that of congress.

Also, another whistleblower has stepped up and is now testifying in front of a US Senate hearing about how Boeing is cutting corners on quality control, and how they're pushing product through inspections, and at times literally "jumping on pieces of airplane" just to make them fit together.  Yikes.

In spite of all this, the company must move forward.

According to their website, Boeing reminds us that they have "a long tradition of aerospace leadership and innovation. The company continues to expand its product line and services to meet emerging customer needs. Its broad range of capabilities includes creating new, more efficient members of its commercial airplane family; designing, building and integrating military platforms and defense systems; creating advanced technology solutions; and arranging innovative financing and service options for customers."

Which is exactly what the CTO is doing by announcing that they're getting into the flying car market by 2030, starting somewhere in Asia.  You have to give the company's board and its stockholders something to believe in.  However, the internet reminds us that the news isn't going to be taken as seriously as the company would hope, and that Boeing is still in the public spotlight, and not in a good way.

On Twitter, The Babylon Bee gave us this gem:

Elsewhere on Twitter, people react to the news of flying Boeing cars:

The internet never misses.  I could post screenshot after screenshot with hilarity but I think this makes the point.  Boeing is embroiled in some very serious controversy and there's no letting up soon.  On Twitter, the company is posting and reposting updates on safety concerns, quality assurances, changes in leadership, and is assuring the public that they are creating "plans to enhance quality and compliance across [their] programs."  The big news event is the ongoing Senate hearings, and in fact the flying car story is barely a blip, and almost exclusively exploited as a punchline.

Personally, these kinds of controversies come and go, and it's Boeing's turn to be under fire.  I'm not saying it isn't justified, I'm saying that these things happen.  They happen and before too long, the public moves on or forgets.  Just ask Volkswagen, or Lehman Brothers, or Enron.  Maybe Enron is a bad example.  If I were Boeing's head of marketing, I would be as transparent as possible, and keep the public informed.  I'd probably even say, "hey, check it out: flying cars in Asia in 2030.  Cool, right?"

In spite of setbacks, albeit major setbacks, global corporations like Boeing have to keep moving forward with new innovations and announcing innovations to reassure customers, the board of directors, and stockholders.  They say that all news is good news, but when planes keep falling apart in the sky, and whistleblowers are mysteriously dying, that's never a good thing to hear.  If they're not prudent, they could all lose their shirts.