Ever since their inception, space activities have been innovative, but not driven by commercial considerations that is, until the end of the Cold War, when the commercialization of space escalated. As a result, the direction of the innovation changed in order to leverage new business opportunities, which reached a turning point in the 2010s.
This book discusses the developmental trends of the world space sector in detail, by analyzing their long-term evolution, and studying why this innovative industry sometimes experiences technological and organizational delays. Innovation Trends in the Space Industry also provides a framework to diagnose more accurately the potential technological threats that are currently faced by existing space tech manufacturers.
Moreover, this book, with an economic perspective, provides a close examination of the space sector. It also contributes to enriching innovation management theory by leading us to better understand industry emergence shaped by customers, to reinterpret technological and organizational inertia in high technology activities, and to refine disruptive innovation trends.
Table of Contents
Preface ix
Introduction xiii
Chapter 1. Theoretical and Empirical Framework 1
1.1. Innovation management: introductory elements 2
1.1.1. Diversity and legitimacy of innovation 3
1.1.2. Typology of innovations 5
1.1.3. Developing product innovations 9
1.1.4. The industry cycle 15
1.2. The space industry 22
1.2.1. Why study the space industry? 23
1.2.2. Sources and level of analysis 24
1.2.3. The boundaries of the space industry 25
1.2.4. Structure of the space industry 28
Chapter 2. The Emergence of Industry: The Influence of Demand 43
2.1. The space industry is in the emerging phase 44
2.1.1. Emergence as an object of study 44
2.1.2. Characterizing emergence 46
2.1.3. Method: sources and measurements 49
2.1.4. Results 53
2.1.5. Discussion 56
2.2. Customers shape the industry dynamics in the emergence phase 57
2.2.1. Theoretical framework 57
2.2.2. Sources 60
2.2.3. Results: influence of customers on the emergence of the space industry 60
2.2.4. Discussion and implications 65
2.3. Demand influences technological change 70
2.3.1. Sources, data and indicators 70
2.3.2. Loss of impetus resulting in technical change 72
2.3.3. Influence of demand on technological change 78
2.3.4. Discussion and conclusion 84
Chapter 3. Slow Adoption of Innovations: A Key Success Factor 87
3.1. Slow adoption of technological innovations: a key success factor 88
3.1.1. Introduction 88
3.1.2. Inertia: a literature review 90
3.1.3. Modeling a strategy of technological inertia based on reliability 94
3.1.4. Research methodology 97
3.1.5. Results 105
3.1.6. Discussion and conclusion 106
3.2. Slow adoption of organizational innovations: a key success factor 109
3.2.1. Introduction 109
3.2.2. Organizational change: a literature review 111
3.2.3. Modeling the organizational inertia strategy 116
3.2.4. Methodology 117
3.2.5. Results 118
3.2.6. Discussion and conclusion 126
Chapter 4. Technological Discontinuities and Strategic Diagnosis 131
4.1. Disruptive innovations and threat analysis 132
4.1.1. Introduction 132
4.1.2. The theory of disruptive innovations 134
4.1.3. Model 139
4.1.4. Methodology 144
4.1.5. Results 145
4.1.6. Discussion 156
4.1.7. Conclusion 158
Conclusion 161
References 169
Index 191
