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Innovating the Business Model: The Case of Space

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Adoption of Innovation

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Abstract

The paper provides insights on the dynamics of the space industry which despite its remarkable potential tends to remain an under-studied sector within the field of business studies. By drawing on our existing work on the space industry this paper investigates the leveraging of innovative business models in the industry utilizing three case studies. From the findings it emerges that all the three companies Virgin Galactic, Mars One and Unilever with the Axe/Lynx Apollo campaign have extensively relied on business model innovation by leveraging specific design elements—content, structure, and governance. Our findings highlight that business model innovation is an imperative to operate successfully in the space industry. Furthermore, a wide variety of private actors appear to be particularly resourceful in adopting novel business models that address the involvement of non-space actors and rely on non-space revenues.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    According to this view, the overall objective of a firm’s business model is to satisfy a perceived need in order to create value for the focal firm and its partners. That objective is called “the value-creating insight on which the firm turns,” and it is reflected in the customer value proposition. A focal firm’s business model is defined as an activity system that is designed and enabled by a focal firm, but which transcends the focal firm and spans its boundaries. It encompasses activities that are conducted either by the focal firm or by its partners, customers, or vendors.

  2. 2.

    Passengers who have already submitted their deposit include Stephen Hawking, Tom Hanks, Ashton Kutcher, Katy Perry, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie. The business plan is for 50,000 people to visit space over a 10 year time period (David 2006).

  3. 3.

    The flight test was then successfully conducted on December 11th.

  4. 4.

    Anyone over the age of 18 may apply, as long as the application is submitted in one of the 11 most used languages on the Internet: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Russian, Arabic, Indonesian, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. Applicants are judged on resiliency, adaptability, curiosity, ability to trust, and creativity. By 19th December 2013, 200,000 applicants had paid their registration fee and submitted public videos in which they made their case for going to Mars in 2023. The application fee varies from US$5 to US$75 (the amount depending on the country).

  5. 5.

    By December 20th they have raised $77,789 (Indiegogo 2013).

  6. 6.

    Unilever were unable to use the name Axe in the United Kingdom and Ireland due to trademark problems so it was launched as Lynx.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Alessandra Vecchi

  2. School of Business, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Louis Brennan

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  1. Alessandra Vecchi
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  2. Louis Brennan
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Correspondence to Alessandra Vecchi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Mads Clausen Institute, University of Southern Denmark, Sønderborg, Denmark

    Alexander Brem

  2. Business Policy Department, EADA Business School, Barcelona, Spain

    Éric Viardot

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Vecchi, A., Brennan, L. (2015). Innovating the Business Model: The Case of Space. In: Brem, A., Viardot, É. (eds) Adoption of Innovation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14523-5_10

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