Is Boeing a Smarter Company (or Not)?

There have been a number of people talking again about Boeing’s difficulties with the 787. Among the critics you can count ParaPundit, Michael Mandel and Dick Nolan.

In our book and blog, we include a discussion of Boeing in our discussion of relationship capital:

Technology makes it easier than ever for you to connect and collaborate with your vendors. A great illustration of this potential is the Boeing 787. The design of this plane represented a new approach by Boeing. Using an electronic system, the company was on-line with the hundred or so key vendors that would manufacture components and parts for the jet.

More than ever before, Boeing pushed the design decisions out to the vendors, each of whom has specific expertise related to their part of the plane. Read more

Enormous Opportunities in the Construction Business

There is a really good video story from the New York Times called The Greening of the American Hard Hat.

The creation of jobs is a critical issue for the U.S., not just because of the recession but because we outsourced and downsized so many of our industries in recent decades. Green building is an enormous opportunity to create jobs. And it’s not just about construction, it’s about “how we design, build and sustain a building.”

According to this report, 40% of our carbon dioxide emissions and 70% of our electricity are consumed by buildings. We need to rethink existing as well as new buildings. This will require leveraging and innovating based on our strong national intellectual capital.