NASA's Organizational Adaptation and Business Model Innovation
For more than 60 years, NASA has been sending people to space. As its programs evolved, so did its business model, according to research by Raja Roy, an associate professor at the Martin Tuchman School of Management at New Jersey Institute of Technology.
In a study published on October 16 in Industrial and Corporate Change, Roy and co-author Saikat Chaudhuri from Stanford University, outline NASA's long-term adaptation and innovation in its business model, essential components of management research.
Their findings show how NASA's structure adapted as its practices changed dramatically. Key aspects of this adaptation included making technical components more modular and reflecting this modularity in its organizational structure. This not only facilitates entrepreneurial opportunities but also enhances the agency's value.
From Apollo to Artemis
Beginning in the 1960s, NASA's Apollo missions marked America's journey to the moon. The agency's current crewed space program, Artemis, recently completed its second stage, sending five astronauts to orbit the moon. A future Artemis mission aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface.
Over the years since the first successful crewed Apollo launch on October 11, 1968, NASA has witnessed significant changes, both technical and infrastructural, to meet new challenges.
Understanding the Importance of Adaptation
Roy emphasizes that understanding these internal transformations is crucial for grasping how NASA operates and manages future changes.
"Change always happens," says Roy. "For a business model to be sustainable, it needs to be adaptable." This holds true for NASA, a federal agency, and for-profit organizations alike.
The Study's Focus
Motivated by the dynamic nature of business models, Roy investigated how NASA adapted its business model to support spaceflight initiatives spanning over 75 years. He and Chaudhuri analyzed decades of NASA data, identifying that the agency revised its mission stage modules and goals to evolve its business model.
During the Apollo era (1962-1972), NASA's business model consisted of two modules: "launch" for transporting astronauts to space, and "access and re-entry" for reaching the moon and safely returning the astronauts.