THE BORE
General => The Superdeep Borehole => Topic started by: Rman on January 28, 2020, 08:28:49 AM
-
Boeing with the Max.
Airbus and corruption. Gotta love capitalism.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51277946
In a statement, the European planemaker said the deal was subject to approval by courts in the three countries.
The allegations have centred on the use of middlemen in plane sales.
Details have not been revealed, but reports suggest that Airbus - based in Toulouse in south-west France - could pay more than €3bn (£2.5bn) in fines.
"Airbus confirms that it has reached agreement in principle with the French Parquet National Financier, the UK Serious Fraud Office and the US authorities," the company said in a statement.
The UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO), and later its French counterpart, opened investigations into Airbus after the firm reported itself in 2016.
The SFO opened its investigation in August of that year into allegations of "fraud, bribery and corruption" in the civil aviation business of Airbus.
The firm employs more than 130,000 people globally, including about 10,000 in the UK. It asked the regulator to look at documentation about its use of overseas agents.
-
I think I prefer corruption over selling planes that aren't safe to fly in order to save a few bucks...
-
At least in this case hundreds of people weren't killed in preventable crashes.
-
If only we could go back to the days of mom and pop airplane manufacturers. Things were much better back then. Fucking capitalism.
-
If only we could go back to the days of mom and pop airplane manufacturers. Things were much better back then. Fucking capitalism.
Well played lol
-
Corruption is part and parcel of that industry, it's undistinguishable from what happens on the military side really. You can look up the saga over the US Air Force bid for refueling planes (IIRC) that happened 5-10 years ago for a tale of bribes, business law maneuvers and protectionism.
-
I think I prefer corruption over selling planes that aren't safe to fly in order to save a few bucks...
I dunno. I think I'd prefer them to not do either.
-
FFFFFO KCUF!
-
Not gonna lie, Airbus themselves going "huh guys, could you please look into this potentially shady stuff" cracks me up.
As others have mentioned, that's peanuts compared to Boeing's 737max fucking disaster.
Speaking of, apparently the FAA is now considering speeding up the de-grounding process. I'm sure this will go well.
https://www.ccn.com/boeing-737-max-to-be-approved-is-the-faa-repeating-its-fatal-mistakes/
Also, Boeing somehow raised funding to help sort out their own fucking mess? Excuse me?
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/27/boeing-secures-more-than-12-billion-in-financing-to-help-weather-737-max-crisis.html
-
Also, Boeing somehow raised funding to help sort out their own fucking mess? Excuse me?
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/27/boeing-secures-more-than-12-billion-in-financing-to-help-weather-737-max-crisis.html
They will be propped up for sure, so it's a safe bet.
-
The thing with business is that you try to make your client comfortable with you as a vendor and to get them on board with your plan.
Now if most clients would make rational decisions (based on cost, time, experience etc.) bribes and corruption would not exist but most clients make decisions based on feelings and emotions.
No one is going to read and compare all the specifications as the people deciding probably have no idea what it all means. The decisions are based on gut feelings about the company or person they're dealing with.
Not to mention most business comes from people that have been told by other people that you are doing a good job one way or another.
So when you sell a car or insurance packages or whatever, you give your client a free coffee, a bag of swag from the manufacturer and perhaps some flowers for the misses when the car is collected.
In other cases you might organize a fancy dinner to get your client comfortable to sign with you. I also know of a fancy space tech company that takes all their potential clients out to the golf course.
Now here we have companies with deals worth billions, that we know are not going to be closed based on rational decisions.
So yes, you find middle men who have the time to waste to talk to all the parties that have a say in this and get them on board.
And in some cases your middle men might go the extra mile to get a deal signed but on a multi-billion plane contract the $5 coffee becomes equally more expensive.
A guy in the oil and gas business told me that most deals were signed after visits to strip clubs and brothels.
I know a company in The Hague that has the perfect strategy to get the government pencil pushers over the finish line when a decision needs to be made.
What they do is simple. They write a very basic quote and when they're selected as a party of interest they send a Tesla to city hall or a department to pick them up as a 'service'.
The driver of course is sure to take the scenic route to the offices of the company.
He always plans these meetings at 4 in the afternoon because the working day for the pencil pushers ends at 5 and they don't do overtime.
It just puts him in a "Wow, these guys are really service oriented and nice" column that is hard to compete against and because they leave at 4 and tour the city with the Tesla for 30 minutes the pencil pusher feels kind of guilty he's late.
Of course the people at the company say that is absolutely no problem and that the driver will give them a lift home at 5.
After all this, how can the autisty pencil pusher not sign with these nice people?
And they do, about 90% of them, within 15 minutes. Even if they have lists of objections and questions with them. After all, dinner's getting cold
:yeshrug
-
I think I prefer corruption over selling planes that aren't safe to fly in order to save a few bucks...
I dunno. I think I'd prefer them to not do either.
But in which planes would you rather fly?
-
*The Joker's Last Trick or whatever the fuck*
Wait why would the pencil pusher feel guilty that they are late? Isn't it the company that's sending out the Tesla with the driver? So why would they feel guilty when it's the company making him/her "late"? The rest makes sense.
-
Related.
Boeing reports its first loss in two decades (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51292698)
Not fully unexpected given the 737max clusterfuck, but still.