Boeing loses four contracts in three months

• April 2008. Northrop won a $3.74 billion Navy unmanned spyplane order against Boeing. Bloomberg News reports that Captain Robert Dishman, the U.S. Navy's program manager, said at the Pentagon in Washington that Northrop's Global Hawk is "a highly capable air vehicle."
• March 2008. Lockheed beat Boeing for a $766 million radio contract.

What is going on here? There is a different reason for each of Boeing's losses. Clearly the CEO cannot get heavily involved in the details of each bid. So,he needs to appoint people who can take charge of the programs and create a way to follow up on what they're doing so if there's a problem that requires his attention, he can do something to fix it. Unfortunately, it's too late for Boeing on these four programs except the Tanker one which is still under review.

The Seattle Times speculates that there are two Boeings: the Defense and the Commercial. The Defense is clearly having problems winning bids. But the Commercial, while winning many new orders, is struggling to deliver its 787 after numerous delays. There are no easy answers to Boeing's problems. But I believe Boeing's CEO is determined to solve them. Whether or not he succeeds remains to be seen.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He is writing a book about Boeing and has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.