SpaceX Disruption and Innovation

SpaceX: Group Assignment

Strategic Initiatives

From the onset, it would be prudent to note that SpaceX has accomplished a wide range of feats in the past. With this in mind, there would be need to highlight some of the company’s most recent strategic initiatives. To begin with, the company has in recent times developed a reusable rocket that has the capability to be launched, landed, and reused for another mission. It is important to note that in the past, rockets have been designed to disintegrate or burn upon their reentry into the earth’s atmosphere. Johnson (2019) points out that with the said reusability capabilities, the company has in effect set the ground for routine missions to space at a cost that is a fraction of present costs. Secondly, yet another strategic initiative that SpaceX has engaged in recent times is Inspiration 4. In essence, this is a scheduled space flight by private citizens aboard the company’s SpaceX Resilience capsule. The said flight, which intends to orbit earth, is scheduled to last for a total of three days. As SpaceX points out on its website, this is essentially the first ever all-commercial space shuttle flight to launch (SpaceX, 2021). In the past, such missions have been astronaut-exclusive undertakings. Third, SpaceX has also been able to develop the very first spacecraft which is privately-owned and capable of ferrying astronauts as well as cargo to the international space station. The spacecraft is christened the Dragon. The company points out that with its development of the Dragon, it has effectively “returned America’s ability to fly NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station on American vehicles for the first time since 2011” (SpaceX, 2021).

Disruptive/Innovative Technologies

Keen assessment of SpeceX’s future plans indicate that the company is keen on deploying disruptive technologies at some point into the future. Baltzan (2017) defines a disruptive technology as “a new way of doing things… disruptive technologies tend to open new markets and destroy old ones.” It would be prudent t to note that as the author further points out, disruptive technologies usually come into the marketplace with little clout and slowly evolve until they at some point challenge (and replace) well-established entities. A good example in this case would be Sony which was able to continuously improve its technology and edged out established names in the industry. On the other hand, a good example of a future disruptive technology pioneered by SpaceX is the use of Starship to ferry people to any location on the planet in record time, i.e. in what has been speculated to be less than an hour. More specifically, in the words of Johnson (2019), “the company has announced plans to use its massive Starship system to fly suborbital missions to routinely ferry passengers around the world in about half an hour.” What this means is that a businessman could have breakfast in New York; lunch in Shanghai, China; a late evening meeting in Melbourne, Australia; and be back home in New York for dinner. To a large extent, this appears to be the kind of stuff that dreams are made of. This is more so the case given that we are used to the conventional kind of travel whereby the sheer distance between some locations effectively means that multiple hours are required to travel from one place to another.

For instance, on average, it would take an individual an average of 19 to 20 hours to get to New York, from Melbourne, Australia. This is more so the case given that a commercial airliner is likely to make multiple stops along the way. SpaceX’s announcement of plans to use its Starship system as a ‘commercial airliner’ would, in effect, revolutionize the way we do international travel. To a large extent, this could be considered a disruptive technology owing to the fact that a move of this nature will revolutionize air travel as we know it. In effect, Smith and Scott (2020) are of the opinion that disruptive technologies result in the alteration of the way enterprises or entire industries operate. In this case, SpaceX would be altering the way airlines (enterprises) operate, as well as how the airline industry itself operates. This is more so the case given that with the Starship system, most airlines and aerospace companies would be sent back to the drawing board as customers are likely to opt for faster travel options owing to the time saving and convenience aspects.

It should, however, be noted that it would not be a walk in the park for SpaceX in efforts to disrupt the airline industry. History, however, indicates that there are many companies that have started off as underdogs and eventually managed to upset entire industries. Furth (2018) is categorical that one company that embodies disruption in every sense is Amazon. In an assertion that appears to be in agreement with Baltzan’s (2017) view that disruptive technologies often destroy old markets and open new ones, Furth (2018) makes an observation to the effect that Amazon was able to take on established enterprises such as booksellers and publishers from the onset. Further, true to Baltzan’s (2017) observation about disruptive technologies, Amazon has evolved over time. It did not start off as this huge ecommerce company that we all know of today. Indeed, in the words of Furth (2018), the company has successively edged out “many large and previously powerful companies that could not or did not want to take the threat seriously.”

To the extent that the company is also focused on sending private citizens to orbit earth aboard its SpaceX Resilience Capsule, SpaceX could also be deemed a disruptive innovator. The term, according to Baltzan (2017) has been used in the past “to describe innovations that create new markets by discovering new categories of customers.” This, according to the author, could be accomplished in various ways: i.e. the deployment of old technologies in new formats, development of new business models, and taping of new technologies. In the case of SpaceX, sending private citizens to obit earth aboard the Resilience Capsule could, as per the definition assigned to innovative disruption by Baltzan, be perceived as a move by the company to establish new markets via the creation of new customer categories. This would be a move by the company to establish what could be referred to as space tourism. The company is keen on accomplishing this feat by taping new technologies and fusing the same into older rocket technologies.

Ebusiness

In as far as how SpaceX manages its Ebusiness strategy, it should be noted that in basic terms, as Baltzan (2017) points out, “ebusiness includes ecommerce along with all activities related to internal and external business operations such as servicing customer accounts, collaborating with partners, and exchanging real-time information.” In this sense, it should be noted that SpaceX conducts a significant chunk of its engagements with partners and stakeholders over computer-mediated networks (or online). The company has a dedicated website that serves as not only a platform to share crucial information on the company’s undertakings and future engagements, but also as a place for persons to purchase a wide range of merchandise related to the company’s exploits. Featured products on this front are inclusive of, but they are not limited to; men, women and kids clothing (outwear and t-shirts) and a diverse set of accessories (i.e. mission patch collections, drone ship luggage tags, heat sensitive mugs, etc.). One of the crucial benefits of ebusiness happens to be availability. In this case, customers have access to an enterprise 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Baltzan (2017) makes an observation to the effect that this availability could be used by businesses as an approach towards the further enhancement of customer experiences and satisfaction. Further, ebusiness eases communication between an enterprise and its clientele. This is more so the case given that a business can use its website as “the focal point of a cost-effective communications and marketing strategy” (Baltzan, 2017). This has largely been the case for SpaceX, in which case the company has on its website dedicated sections on diverse undertakings, space vehicles, as well as updates on upcoming projects and missions.