I have worked in telecommunications for over 20 years, across retail, local government, finance, pharmaceuticals, energy companies etc. Covering bother pemanent staff work and ten years freelance, I have visited over 120 companies, ranging from tiny to mega-corporation.
Unfortunately, what you are saying about BA is not special to BA! They are all like that.
What I mean is, that the companies that are doing it right are very few and very far between. It is not always the small ones that get it right, there is no pattern - other than that many companies are doing what other people tell them is right. Frequently it is consultants (and am I one of those myself!) but for the large companies, it is the stock market.
We are (as a country) in thrall to the Stock Market. The share price tomorrow is worth more than the share price in three months time. They will do ANYTHING to try and square the circle.
In all the posts that I have read about BA on PPRuNe in the last year, I have heard the same things about all the other major companies.
To close, one of the reasons that the UK is not doing very well (and some of us think it is going down the proverbial plug hole) is that the UK is governed by the same kind of people that are running BA! They are making the same kind of short-term decisions. Instead of the stock market, they are looking at votes but the result is the same.
Sorry to be of less than zero comfort.
