IN-CLASS EXERCISE: Company Histories Questions and

Answers.

1) What was Boeing’s first two business lines?

The company’s first customer was the government of New Zealand, which
employed the plane for mail delivery and pilot training. (To rent)
Boeing sold a number of airplanes to Edward Hubbard, whose Hubbard Air
Transport is regarded as the world’s first airline….(To sell)

2) What major products did Boeing produce during WWII?

Single-wing airplanes with directional radios

3) What products did Boeing contribute to the development of space exploration?

(1)As far back as 1959 Boeing had developed a prototype manned, reusable space
vehicle similar to the Space Shuttle of two decades later.
(2)Boeing was heavily involved in NASA’s Apollo project in the 1960s
(3)In 1969 Boeing began building the Lunar Roving Vehicle, which was used to
explore the moon in the early 1970s on the final three Apollo missions.
(4)In 1993 NASA selected Boeing as the prime contractor for the International
Space Station

4) What did Boeing do to become the world leader in the aerospace industry in the
late 1990s?

In August 1997 Boeing completed a $14 billion acquisition of McDonnell

Douglas, vaulting Boeing into the number one position worldwide in the
aerospace industry.

5) Which company is Boeing’s main competitor and which product are they
competing to commercialize?

(1) European Aeronautic Defense & Space Company.

(2)A brand-new jet
1) How did Rolex revolutionalize the watch industry in its early years as
Wilsdorf &Davis?

Wisdorf developed a screw crown and casebook mechanism that

revolutionized the watch industry

2) What technology breakthroughs did Rolex develop in the watch industry?

Rolex—the first to create a waterproof, airtight, and dustproof watch

Rolex invented the “Rotor”-a semicircular plate of metal that with gravity,
would move freely to wind the watch.

3) What did Rolex do to survive the Japanese invention of the quartz watch?

Yet while most of Geneva’s watch houses feverishly hitched their star to the
digital bandwagon, Rolex stuck resolutely to its mechanical guns. Wilsdorf, an
heirless widower at his death, created a private trust run by a board of directors
to insure the company would never be sold.

4) What corporate philosophy has Rolex always adhered to?

Essentially, their philosophy has always been to let the product speak for itself

1) What was Hitler’s and Porche’s visionary goal for Volkswagen?

It claimed the top position in European sales with a 17 percent market share.

2) How did Volkswagen enter the US market with its Beetle model?

.American interest in foreign cars grew during the mid-1950s. The firm of
Doyle Dane Bernbach took over the advertising for the car and coined the
name “Beetle” for the Volkswagen. The ad agency took what had been the
car`s draw backs and turned them into selling points with such slogans as
“Thank Small” and “Ugly Is Only Skin Deep”.

3) What business activities did Volkswagen undertake to avoid bankruptcy in the

mid 1970s?

A development program was instituted to create a successor to the Rabbit, the

company’s major automobile after the Beetle.

4) What two business strategies is Volkswagen pursuing to compete in the auto

industry at the turn of the century?

One is the VW lupo, a car featuring an economical three-cylinder engine and

marking the company’s entry into the subcompact segment. Another goal of
pitch’s was to take Volkswagen up market.