Management_Planning_Paper

Abstract Boeing is an aerospace company, a leading maker of commercial airplanes, military aircraft, satellites, and missiles. Boeing’s business planning is a very complicated process because of the influences of internal and external factors. The factors that contribute to the complicated process of their business planning are legal, ethical issues, and corporate social responsibility. There are also economic conditions, laws, and competition that influence the strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning of the company. With the company’s emphasis on ethics and planning capabilities, it makes Boeing possible maintain a successful company. Strategic, Tactical, Operational, and Contingency Planning Throughout the years there definitely have been countless factors that have affected the strategies, tactics, and planning methods of the Boeing Company. For instance, during their contingency planning, the company always looks back to their experiences and strategies, and assesses what works for them and what does not. Through this, they will at least have an idea what strategies they could use for their plans. It was during this phase that the company realized how important it is to constantly monitor their project, as they can easily trace their needs and address them right away. If a project is not working, they can just cancel it right away without creating too much loss for the company or before it taints their standards. The company should only retain any entity which is profitable. Looking at the planning design of company, the best word to describe it is amazing. Everything is well thought of from the designing phase, testing, until the installation phase. The company knows so well what sort of actions they have to incorporate in their plans to be certain of achieving their strategic goals. After the tactical phase, the company is ready for their operational planning phase. In the operational planning phase, the main concern of the company is factors such as pricing, labor cost, and the expenses needed for coming up with new technologies. This is another crucial stage for the management team because one mistake could already mean wasting the company's money. This is also the reason the company spends time in their planning stage because they know how much it will cost them if their strategies happen to be wrong. Possessing a very well thought of contingency planning and operational planning, the result will always be a flawless strategic plan. The company includes in detail, all the steps that they will take to achieve a certain goal, from the start to finish. In this stage it is important to check if what is supposed to be executed in the plan is being executed consistently with the original plan Whether or not strategies are in compliance with the legal standards of the community or government should be checked also in this stage. From there, the company can use the knowledge they gained in their production phase. Moreover, they can start evaluating their project based on the customers' perspective and address the needs of the market, government, and the company, itself. For as long as the tactical, operational, and contingency plans are aligned they can be ensured of a very effective strategic map. In this map, the company can properly put their planning process for the production of the new technology and other products. Legal Issues In any company they tend to have to deal with legal issues that will further complicate the planning process. This can place the company in a difficult position. In 2000, Boeing was sued over a complicated legal issue involving gender pay differential (Business Week, 2008). Clear evidence was discovered that pay differential existed; however, attorney client privilege protected the company from liability and most of the evidence was later thrown out. Boeing decided to settle out of court to save its company from public disgrace. Boeing found it best to settle because it would resound better with consumers, its employees, and the public. Ethics Boeing has an extensive ethics policy not only to protect the corporation but also its employees also. All employees must follow all information in the Boeing Code of Conduct. A hotline was set up by the company which allows the employees to ask questions or to report alleged violations of policy. The employees must also follow the policies that the Finance department has. Boeing created these extra policies because they want precise recording of the company’s financial records. Boeing commits themselves to demonstrating leadership, quality, integrity, and customer satisfaction (Boeing, 20011). The company believes that it is imperative for all policies to be followed so the honor of plans in action is not compromised. Corporate Social Responsibility Boeing has been respected for their companies’ corporate social responsibility. Boeing is a part of the Foundation for Corporate responsibility. This foundation encourages companies to be involved in philanthropic efforts and promoting ethics in business (Foundation for Corporate and Social Responsibility, 2011). Boeing has gotten involved in sponsoring corporate events such as refurbishing the lecture hall at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, and the Chicago Air and Water Show (Boeing, 2011). Not only has Boeing promoted ethics in business-related events but they have also become involved in sports-related events. Conclusion There are many factors involved with business planning at Boeing ranging from internal legal issues, corporate social responsibility, economic conditions, and ethics. Boeing has a legal department to assist with all aspects of planning. In addition to the planning process the legal department has a responsibility to handle all external and internal legal matters. Boeing has associated itself with excessive sponsorship organizations to aid them in philanthropic efforts. Corporate social responsibility is extremely important because consumers and potential client’s judge corporations based on some of the efforts set forth. All employees must follow business ethics in the code of conduct at Boeing. A strong code of ethics has helped this corporation to maintain longevity in a competitive industry. The planning process at Boeing is constantly changing because of the circumstances in the internal and external environment. References Boeing. (2011, June). Retrieved July 18, 2011, from Foundation for Corporate Social Responsibility: http://www.fcsr.pl/fcsr_eng_nasipartnerzy_boeing.html Business Week. (2008, January 24). Cover Up at Boeing. Retrieved July 18, 2011, from Business Week: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_26/b3889088.htm Corporate Sponsorships. (2011, July). Retrieved July 18, 2011, from Boeing: http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/sponsorship/current.html Vandore, E. (2011, June 17). Airbus, Boeing Swamped by Orders. Retrieved July 18, 2011, from San Francisco Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi'f=/n/a/2008/01/16/financial/f132334S50.DTL&feed=rss.business Yahoo. (2011, June). The Boeing Company Profile. Retrieved July 18, 2011, from Yahoo: http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/10/10221.html