Investors are reaping the rewards. After dithering during the first four years of Mr Culp’s tenure,’s three successor firms is $237bn. Although that is well below the firm’s peak of $594bn in 2000, it is more than double what Mr Culp inherited. Business-school students have spent decades dissecting the hubristic acquisitions that definedThe fact that the wind is at’s back has undoubtedly helped.
Mr Culp’s success, then, is vindication for smooth operators, not firms looking to ditch problem assets or activist hedge funds in search of conglomerate discounts. Bosses preparing to lop off divisions of their own firms, including those at Unilever, will study him closely. But there are broader lessons, too.
, which recently prevailed in a proxy fight against Nelson Peltz, a noisy shareholder who once lobbied for change atThe lessons may be most apt for Boeing, a case study for rotten corporate culture. In March its boss resigned, two months after the blowout of a fuselage panel from one of its 737planes. Some have suggested Mr Culp for the job, which would be a severe test of his operational prowess.
confirmed that it was in discussions to acquire Spirit AeroSystems, an unsatisfactory supplier it had previously spun off. Mr Culp says he is happy runningAerospace, one of Boeing’s suppliers. But if he can manage a business well while pulling it apart, perhaps he could also thrive at putting one back together again.