A fast-paced report of international corporate intrigue that explores both the early history of aviation and the ongoing, trans-oceanic battle between two massive corporations. Birds of Prey is the story of an industry now essential to heavily developed nations. And more than that, it is a paradigm of business, the ongoing story of the struggle between two forces of international commerce. It describes the inner workings of these corporations that are almost nations in themselves: how a product is conceived of - the Airbus or the 747 - and then the need for that product is created. And finally it tells how, by manipulation both overt and covert, the battling giants marshall their various resources to achieve their ends: more orders for their factories. And on this level, the salespeople have familiar names: for Airbus, the star salesman was the late French President Francois Mitterrand; for Boeing, it is President Bill Clinton.

Exploring both the early history of aviation and the ongoing, transoceanic battle between two massive corporations--Boeing and the European Airbus consortium, this book describes the inner workings of these corporations, how each company first conceives a product--the Airbus or the 747--and then creates the need for that product, and how the battling giants marshal their various resources to achieve their ends. 20,000 print.