Ford’s Mulally: New Book Gives Him Negative Reviews
February 26, 2007

A new book entitled Boeing vs. Airbus , by veteran journalist John Newhouse paints anything but a glowing picture of Ford’s new CEO Alan Mulally, who was plucked from the aircraft manufacturer last summer to turn around the automaker.

Reviewed on Sunday by the suburban Detroit newspaper, The Oakland Press, the book chronicles the contest between Boeing and its European rival Airbus. It specifically blames Mulally for being slow to address some of the aircraft makers’ problems that finally led Airbus to overtake Boeing in sales.

It quotes former Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher as saying he came close to firing Mulally, when he was president of Boeing’s commercial airplane business between 1998 and 2006. It notes the 777 program was more than $6 billion over budget. However, it concludes, the 777 program and Mulally’s career were saved by the boom in sales of new aircraft of the deregulated airlines in the early 1990s.

After building the 777 (in 1989 –- and a plane to which Mulally often refers to), Boeing pulled off its core business and flew on automatic pilot for a decade or so, the book says. “A great many of Boeing’s gifted people, however, felt they had been let down by management, which in the late 1990s was taken over by a strongly risk-averse faction."

The book further notes that the company was not saved by its own smarts but by its quick calls for assistance by the U.S. government and an Asian strategy heavy on outsourcing.

Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:00 AM under Ford , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine