Another lost of A&D jobs for California :(
Another big defense contractor, Northrop Grumman, is moving its headquarters to the Washington area, where rivals Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics have shown the advantage of close proximity to the Pentagon, the White House and Capitol Hill.
Northrop Grumman’s announcement that it will relocate from Los Angeles by 2011 comes in the middle of a hard-fought competition with Boeing, another rival, over an Air Force contract for aerial refueling tankers worth $35 billion. The Air Force is expected to issue final bid specifications for the planes sometime this month.
Positioning Northrop close to where decisions about defense are made is critical for the company’s success, according to Loren Thompson, the chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute.
“It’s time for Northrop to put its culture of being an outsider behind it. It still behaves like a company that is alien to Washington a lot of the time,” Thompson said, noting that Lockheed and General Dynamics have both been more successful. “There’s a lesson there.”
As the defense industry has shrunk, all of the contractors began to look more and more alike, and it was only a matter of time, Thompson said, before management sought a geographical edge. “How well are you going to know the Obama team from several thousand miles away?” Thompson said.
Let's hope Northrop doesn't decide to move manufacturing jobs also.
Read the rest at: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31149.html
Another big defense contractor, Northrop Grumman, is moving its headquarters to the Washington area, where rivals Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics have shown the advantage of close proximity to the Pentagon, the White House and Capitol Hill.
Northrop Grumman’s announcement that it will relocate from Los Angeles by 2011 comes in the middle of a hard-fought competition with Boeing, another rival, over an Air Force contract for aerial refueling tankers worth $35 billion. The Air Force is expected to issue final bid specifications for the planes sometime this month.
Positioning Northrop close to where decisions about defense are made is critical for the company’s success, according to Loren Thompson, the chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute.
“It’s time for Northrop to put its culture of being an outsider behind it. It still behaves like a company that is alien to Washington a lot of the time,” Thompson said, noting that Lockheed and General Dynamics have both been more successful. “There’s a lesson there.”
As the defense industry has shrunk, all of the contractors began to look more and more alike, and it was only a matter of time, Thompson said, before management sought a geographical edge. “How well are you going to know the Obama team from several thousand miles away?” Thompson said.
Let's hope Northrop doesn't decide to move manufacturing jobs also.
Read the rest at: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31149.html
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