Lockheed Martin Aircraft

Table of Content

Introduction1

Company Strategies and Business Analysis1

Organizational And Operational Adaptation To Changing Markets4

Economic Trends Influenced On Business7

Implementation of Strategic Goals8

Role Human Resource Management11

Conclusion12

References13

Lockheed Martin Aircraft

Introduction

Lockheed Martin Corporation came into existence in 1926. The corporation is the culmination of two companies, the Glen Martin Company and Lockheed Aircraft Manufacturing Company. The latter became Lockheed Aircraft in 1926. The company's first contract of aircraft fulfilled for civilians and military that rolled out in the 1930s. Glen Martin's first aircraft was the transport carrier the XP-80 Shooting Star. Martin's first military aircraft was the B-26 Marauder launched in 1940. Over the course of the following years, the two companies became competitors with each of them focusing on producing military and civilian grade aircrafts. In 1955, Lockheed, and Martin merged to become Lockheed Martin Corporation (Sweetman 2004).

Company Strategies and Business Analysis

Lockheed's primary business was research, development and production of aerospace products, systems and services. Their major unclassified production lines included the C-130, F-16, F-22 Raptor which was in the EMD phase. The only new contract that they were competing for was the JSF and other growth opportunities such as expanding subcontracting work for Boeing or Airbus looked limited. Lockheed's sales to the U.S. Government were approximately 69 percent of sales, 13 percent were to foreign governments, and 18 percent were to commercial customers. Lockheed's sales from 1989-1994 were fairly consistent at approximately 9- 10 billion dollars a year. Prior to the merger with Martin Marietta, Lockheed's board and management looked into purchases, joint ventures, and business combinations with companies engaged in similar or related businesses (Hartung 2011). In 1993, Lockheed purchased General Dynamics Military Jets Division to expand its military aircraft sales.

In March of 1994, Lockheed's CEO contacted Martin Marietta's CEO to discuss possible business combinations. Lockheed realized that they would have to grow through acquisitions or mergers to compete with McDonnell Douglas and Boeing and that the other strategic options available to Lockheed were either too expensive or not attractive as they competed with other segments of Lockheed and might not receive approval from the DOD or the FTC. The Lockheed board discussed three different alternatives to the proposed merger:

Focus on internal investment which would be risky and had limited opportunities,

Potential acquisitions which were either too expensive or not in similar product lines these would include purchasing Northrop Grumman.

The Americans continued to grow in the field of navigation through their satellite GPS (Global Positioning System). For Phase III GPS program, the U.S. Congress has allocated nearly $ 720 million, including almost all will be assigned to the first production contract for the GPS III satellites. The Air Force has and put to work in 2005 Lockheed Martin and Boeing that are loaded into a first step of pre-projects for the space segment and ground segment. The min strategy that company focuses these days is to work on the satellites (Bowman 1998). The two industries were already in charge of production of second-generation satellites with eight GPS IIR-M ...