ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses General Dynamics, one of the largest contractors for the Pentagon. Armed with that rationale, William Anders, the CEO of General Dynamics, proceeded to transform General Dynamics into a smaller, cash-rich defense corporation committed to serving the Pentagon into the foreseeable future. The Department of Defense was directing programs to the Electric Boat and Land Systems Divisions to help preserve their critical capabilities. The privileged status conferred by the Pentagon on the General Dynamics Electric Boat submarine business and on its competitor Newport News Shipyard, builder of nuclear aircraft carriers. In 1995, in a radical departure from its policy of stripping down to its core competencies, General Dynamics used $300 million of its assets to buy a shipyard: the Bath Iron Works (BIW) in Maine. The purchase gave General Dynamics the capability of building destroyers for the Navy, a move that strengthened the company in its competition with Newport News.
