When Catastrophic Failure Brought the Space Industry Together

In 2014, a commercial spacecraft crashed during a test flight, killing one pilot and severely injuring the other. The ensuing public backlash not only threatened the future of the company, but also the industry as a whole. What followed was a remarkable show of unity among industry leaders, driven by a shared passion for exploration and the need to legitimize a nascent commercial space industry.This incident gives us a glimpse at the behaviours of nascent industries when under existential threat. It also carries important lessons in risk-management and stakeholder relations in high-risk fields.Sen Chai, Professor of Organizational Behaviour at the Desautels Faculty of Management, studied the impact of the crash on the commercial space industry. She joins us on the McGill Delve podcast to talk about it.--Professor Chai's study: https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/full/10.1287/orsc.2021.1467--This episode of the McGill Delve Podcast was hosted and edited by Eric Dicaire. Saku Mantere is McGill Delve's editor-in-chief. He also produced all the original music in today's episode.McGill Delve is the official thought leadership platform of McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management. Subscribe to the Delve podcast on all major podcast platforms, including Apple podcasts and Spotify, and follow Delve on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.