[kmeisthax]

I'm sick and tired of "core competency" rhetoric. Business management should not rigidly follow the UNIX philosophy, there's plenty of reasons you wouldn't want to outsource everything.

Furthermore, while those core competencies might sound correct to Boeing, they wouldn't sound like it to Boeing's customers. You're paying Boeing for a plane and support, not a trading company that can find five other companies who can outsource each task to a different firm that delegates responsibility to...

[riffraff]

I remember someone on this forum argued at some point that business management is basically just flip flop between "things are bad, we need more vertical integration" or "things are bad, we need more core focus".

[kmeisthax]

So, the problem isn't outsourcing bad or vertical integration bad. Vertical integration has benefits for things that can differentiate you (e.g. Apple's custom silicon and operating system software). If it's not differentiating, then buy instead of build.

The problem is that there's a mismatch between the customers and management as to what the core focus of the business actually is. Every business wants to become a weirdly shaped futures trader that just arbitrages on other people's work - i.e. one that has no core competency whatsoever. Everything gets outsourced so that cost pressure can be used to obfuscate fraud.

[sgt101]

The key think for Boeings customers is finance.

If you can get 70 airframes for five years in a way that means that you just have to borrow a nubbin of cash and then make regular payments that's what you will do. All your actual money can go to the shareholders and exec compensation. If the business (airline) folds the airframes go back to Boeing and you go on to the next gig - who cares...

If Boeing will take the risk the banks are happy to fund, local airlines - well the banks will be nervous. Every other consideration is either imposed by regulation or of no interest at all.

[novok]

Core competency is a reminder, otherwise you start doing things like making your own chat system and word processing software when you should be just buying slack and google workspace while you are a B2B database company.

[therealbilly]

Kelly Johnson of Lockheed (designer and PM for record breaking aircraft) had a very strong position on core competency. It had to be protected and advanced at all costs.