I'm about 99% certain that the actual cause for the disparity between the two is that Boeing is a publicly traded company while SpaceX is a privately held firm,

I'm about 99% certain that the actual cause for the disparity between the two is that Boeing is a publicly traded company while SpaceX is a privately held firm, which completely eliminates the need for management to focus on short-term profitability. When you look at stupid practices inside of a company, and cultural erosion, you can almost always trace it back to decisions that management is making to maximize profit. I'd go so far as to say, this is the ONLY reason why smaller companies are able to outmaneuver larger ones.