Aerospace - Publications - Faculty & Research

Igor I. Sikorsky

Sikorsky was a pioneer in the aircraft industry. The father of the helicopter, Sikorsky patented and flew the first helicopter in 1939. Revolutionizing the transport industry, Sikorsky Aircraft eventually supplied helicopters for both military and commercial purposes... View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

Donald E. Petersen

Though he was part of the teams that launched the Ford Thunderbird and Mustang, Petersen's real fame is rooted in his revival of the Ford dynasty in the 1980s. Under Petersen's leadership, Ford grew out of the shadow of GM, redesigning the Thunderbird, and launching... View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

Guy S. Peppiatt

During the nineteen years Peppiatt served the company in an executive capacity, the net sales of Federal-Mogul increased dramatically from $25 million (1950) to $263 million (1969). This tenfold increase was fostered by his commitment to retaining and building a strong... View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

Charles W. Nash

Not wanting to compete with the "Big Three" auto makers in the 1920s, Nash carved out a unique niche for well-designed luxury automobiles at medium prices. This strategy was very successful for Nash Motors as it became one of the few, profitable independent... View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

William P. Lear

Long before he invented the autopilot and the executive jet that bears his name, Lear was a pioneer in the development of radio technology. A self-taught engineer, Lear developed the prototype for the first practical automobile radio which he sold to Motorola... View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

John D. Hertz

Hertz founded the Yellow Cab Company in 1915 as a way to provide transportation services at a modest price. At the time, livery services were targeted only to the upper echelons of society, and Hertz believed that there was a vast untapped potential. Hertz’s... View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

Robert E. Gross

Gross developed the popular World War II military pursuit plane named the Lightning in the U.S. and the Hudson in Britain. Gross’ Lockheed accounted for 6% of U.S. airplane production during World War II building 19,000 planes and employing a peak of 94,000 employees... View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

Harvey S. Firestone

By securing a large tire order from Henry Ford in 1906, and aggressively promoting his tires in automobile races, Firestone was able to grow his company’s sales from $100,000 in 1901 to $15 million in 1913, joining the ranks of the “Big Five” of the tire industry.... View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

Victor Emanuel

During World War II, Emanuel produced all types of military aircraft, including giant bombers, aircraft carriers, and cruisers. After the war, Emanuel led the conversion of AVCO from a producer of aircraft and heavy goods to a manufacturer of consumer goods. Emanuel... View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

Donald W. Douglas

Douglas developed and built all types of military planes as well as civilian transport planes. The big breakthrough for Douglas came in the early 1930s when he introduced the DC series of planes. In 1935, Douglas introduced the DC-3, which had 21 to 28 passenger seats,... View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

Frederic G. Donner

An accountant by training, Donner was recognized as one of the sharpest financial minds in business. His overwhelming command of the financial aspects of running GM led him to set new records for sales, profitability, and dividend payments. He is principally credited... View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

William M. Allen

In 1945, when Allen was appointed CEO, Boeing faced cancellation of $1.5 billion in wartime contracts. Under Allen’s leadership, Boeing kept course and later prospered. In 1952, Boeing’s B-52 was chosen by the Air Force as its intercontinental bomber, and in 1959, the... View Details

Keywords: Automotive & Aerospace

April 2017
Case

Planetary Resources Inc., Property Rights, and the Regulation of the Space Economy

By: Matthew Weinzierl and Angela Acocella

Planetary Resources, Inc. (PRI) had a bold, some said crazy, vision: to mine asteroids. One might have assumed that developing the right technology would be the greatest challenge facing PRI. But even if the fledgling company could develop and deploy the sophisticated... View Details

Keywords: Property; Rights; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry

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Educators

Purchase

27 Aug 2019
Blog Post

Meet the PRIDE Club

Washington, DC and London offices, where he worked in the aerospace & defense and retail practices. A native of New Rochelle, New York, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2015 with a B.A. in Near Eastern Languages and... View Details

10 May 2017
Research & Ideas

Amazon Web Services Changed the Way VCs Fund Startups

substantially between 2006, when AWS was introduced, and 2010, especially for those firms that could most take advantage of cloud services. For the control group of companies in industries such as aerospace and medical devices,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Banking; Financial Services; Information Technology

March 2022 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Commercial Space Stations, Chickens and Eggs, and Demand for Activity in Low-Earth Orbit

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Brendan L. Rosseau

With the International Space Station set to retire in January 2031, NASA has made clear its desire to transition to commercially-led space stations in low-earth orbit (LEO). But the history of commercial station attempts has been fraught, characterized by a lack of... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Opportunities; Business Model; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry

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Educators

2001
Other Unpublished Work

Clusters of Innovation Initiative: Wichita

By: Michael E. Porter

This study contains a conceptual framework for assessing the competitiveness of regional economies, an analysis of the Wichita region overall, as well as detailed assessments of two representative clusters—aerospace vehicles and defense and plastics. The report... View Details

Keywords: Clusters; Economics; Industry Clusters; Economy; Growth and Development; Aerospace Industry; Aerospace Industry; Kansas

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