Gouvernance cognitive et gestion des risques : Boeing et ses projets hautement innovants

Abstract

The cognitive dimension of governance extends shareholder theories by introducing other resources necessary for the development of the firm: cognitive resources. It is through the board of directors that these resources can be mobilized. Using the resource dependence theory, we consider this contribution in the case of risk management in an innovative context. Our longitudinal case study provides several illustrations. It shows that the Boeing Company has conducted a dynamic approach to the strategic management of the board of director resources for 24 years. In doing so, it gradually deprived itself of a key resource that it sorely lacked in the development of the 787 and 737 MAX programs. The lack of diversity on its board may partly explain the setbacks encountered by the company.