Boeing’s 737 Max problems began over ten years ago.  Facing competitive pressure from Airbus, Boeing embraced the 737 Max as its competitive savior.  After two horrific crashes killing a total of 346 people, the FAA ordered the grounding of the 737 Max. Despite the grounding, Boeing produced another 400 737 Max airplanes before ceasing all manufacturing of the airplane in January 2020. The two plane...

When a company suffers from serious misconduct, the source of such a failure usually lies in its corporate culture.  I know this theory sounds relatively obvious, but bear with me here. The CEO and senior management and the corporate board are responsible for creating, oversight and monitoring of a company’s culture. Corporate boards and senior management work together, communicate regularly and should set an example. ...

We are finally reaching the end of the road on the beneficial ownership path.  In this last posting on the issue (for now), let’s start with a third-party population (third parties, vendors, suppliers) which have been classified into three categories, the first two of which fall into high-risk (foreign government interaction/representation and government ownership).  The bulk of the population, usually around 80 to 85 percent...

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact.  Businesses have had to adjust rapidly to a new world, filled with significant healthy and safety risks, along with business survival and continuity issues.  Companies have reacted with crisis management strategies.  As part of this response, companies have to implement a new risk profile and allocate resources accordingly. In this episode, Michael Volkov reviews the new risk...