The speed and acceleration of technological innovation in the small satellite manufacturing industry: a co-opetitive dynamics perspective

In this paper, the authors study the nature, structure and dynamics of technological innovation and in particular, its speed and acceleration, in the small satellite manufacturing sector in both US and international markets. They focus on the technological, financial and regulatory factors that affect the process of technology development and commercialization by small firms in a very competitive and regulated market. They conceptualize technology innovation and commercialization as an ongoing cooperative and competitive (co-opetitive) process among enabling and inhibiting factors or mechanisms. Enabling factors include CRADAs, strategic alliances, spin-offs, intellectual property rights, SBIRs and mentor-protege relationships. Inhibiting factors include excessive regulation at state, national and international levels, technological, structural or financial barriers to market entry, competitor response to market entry and culture clashes such as engineering versus marketing culture or firm versus government versus university cultures. They evaluate the opportunities for both large and small firms in developing new technologies in this industry and attempt to empirically determine what structural advantages, if any, small firms enjoy over larger ones in the small satellite industry