Boeing’s Bad Move
In 2001 the Boeing Corp. moved its HQ from Seattle where it had operated for 85 years. The company’s rationale is reported in an essay in the Harvard Business Review for October 2001.
Boeing executives considered a move to Dalla/Ft. Worth, Denver and Chicago.
In an essay in City Journal for August 2nd titled “Governor Giveaway” that is critical of Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker, it seems that the most important aspect of Boeing’s decision was ignored—politics!
Twenty years later, Dallas-Ft. Worth would have been the better choice and Boeing’s annual report (10-K) for 2020 bears that out.
Why this mistake in judgment?
From my perspective, it’s clear that Boeing’s executives think like corporate executives and thus were incapable of thinking politically. To think politically means to think in terms of such concepts as “order,” “society,” “community,” “culture,” and “religion.”
From that perspective, Democrat Party dominated Chicago was the worst locale for the new HQ of Boeing.
