|
|
|
ONLINE FEATURES
Book Reviews
BW Video
Columnists
Interactive Gallery
Newsletters
Past Covers
Philanthropy
Podcasts
Special Reports
BLOGS
Auto Beat
Bangalore Tigers
Blogspotting
Brand New Day
Byte of the Apple
Economics Unbound
Eye on Asia
Fine On Media
Green Biz
Hot Property
Investing Insights
Management IQ
NEXT: Innovation
NussbaumOnDesign
Tech Beat
Working Parents
TECHNOLOGY
J.D. Power Ratings
Product Reviews
Tech Stats
Wildstrom: Tech Maven
AUTOS
Home Page
Auto Reviews
Classic Cars
Car Care & Safety
Hybrids
INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads |  |
JANUARY 31, 2005
Airbus: The Wrong Lessons Europe deserves credit. The Airbus A380, the double-decker megaplane unveiled at a lavish VIP reception on Jan. 18, is one impressive bird. The biggest passenger jet ever built, it's a remarkable display of technological and industrial prowess -- from the next-generation composite materials that keep it light enough to stay aloft to the fleet of barges and oversized trucks that ferry its huge components to the assembly plant in Toulouse, France. Could it still turn out to be a turkey? Possibly. Rival Boeing Co. (BA ) forecasts that airlines over the next 20 years will buy 400 extra-large planes with Boeing's 747 taking some of that market. Yet the A380 looks like a winner. It already has 139 orders in hand and it says it needs to sell 250 to break even. A much larger risk for Europe is that its political leaders will take the wrong lesson in industrial policy away from the A380. At the Jan. 18 ceremony, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, and even Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero waxed enthusiastic about creating new pan-European champions in transportation, telecommunications, and energy. The problem is that governments are notoriously poor at picking industrial winners. France poured billions into building a homegrown computer industry. Europe needs to boost research and development spending, now at just below 2% of gross domestic product, vs. 2.8% in the U.S. It also needs something akin to the U.S. National Science Foundation. And Europe also needs to boost R&D tax credits while easing regulatory and tax burdens on startups. The Airbus megaplane is impressive. So is Apple Computer's (AAPL ) iPod. 
BW MALL
SPONSORED LINKS
Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.
Buy a link now! Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
 Copyright 2005, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of Use | Privacy Notice |
Printer-Friendly Version