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Entrepreneurial Success and Failure in the Aviation Industry: The History of the Waco Aircraft Company, 1919-1963
Entrepreneurial Success and Failure in the Aviation Industry The History of the Waco Aircraft Company 19191963 Author:Howard Jones This is a AIR FORCE INST OF TECH WRIGHT-PATTERSONAFB OH report procured by the Pentagon and made available for public release. It has been reproduced in the best form available to the Pentagon. It is not spiral-bound, but rather assembled with Velobinding in a soft, white linen cover. The Storming Media report number is A733173. The abstract pro... more »vided by the Pentagon follows: This dissertation shows how the history of the Waco Aircraft Company reflects the transformation of the American economy in the twentieth century. Beginning just after the First World War, its entrepreneur, Clayton J. Brukner, developed a network of relationships within the aviation industry. This allowed his company to develop significant competitive advantages in the private flying market. Those advantages and the popular appeal of aviation helped Waco to become the largest manufacturer of civilian aircraft by 1929. The transformation of business-government relations during the New Deal demanded changes in Brukner's business strategy. The depression significantly cut sales of its popular biplanes, but Waco kept its Troy, Ohio, factory open and earned some profits during the downturn. Brukner's involvement with the trade associations in the 1930s revealed the critical role the government, the military in particular, played in the development of aviation. His flawed leadership in the changing context led to decisions that degraded the quality of its network signals and diminished Waco's effectiveness in crafting appropriate policies. As the international situation grew increasingly tense throughout the 1930s, Waco, like other manufacturers, turned to exports to enhance sales. Contracts with foreign governments partially offset the setback the depression had caused domestically. They did not, however, drive Brukner to evaluate sufficiently Waco's potential participation in the U.S. military market. Only after the Munich Crisis in September 1938, when President Franklin D.« less