The creation of NASA’s space shuttle years ago may still spark innovation today.

Francisco Polidoro, Jr., professor of management at the University of Texas at Austin, looks at the design to learn more.

Faculty Bio:

Francisco Polidoro Jr. is a professor of management at The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. Polidoro has taught courses on technology strategy, technology transfer in the global economy, general management and strategy, and special issues in strategic management. Before working at McCombs, he taught corporate strategy and special issues in strategy at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.Polidoro has established himself as an esteemed researcher of strategic management, having won many international awards and honors for his work on technology strategy, technology and innovation management, entrepreneurship and innovation, social networks, and corporate venture capital. His research has appeared in the most prestigious management journals, including Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science, and Strategic Management Journal. In addition to being invited to speak in major international conferences in the field of strategic management, he has also been invited to present his research at numerous institutions in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, including Cornell University, Imperial College London, INSEAD, Johns Hopkins University, the London Business School, Seoul National University, Singapore National University, Stanford University, and the University of Pennsylvania.Along with his academic interests in strategic management, Polidoro has an extensive history in the field of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, as well as sociology in drug discovery and development. His expertise has been noted in research media such as Lab Manager, Pharmafile, and Big Think. Before his career in research and teaching, Polidoro gained extensive managerial experience in the automotive industry, where he worked for 13 years. During that time, he had several senior management positions at Mercedes-Benz and DaimlerChrysler and a variety of assignments in the U.S., China, Europe, and Latin America.Polidoro received a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Michigan. He also earned an MBA from Henley Business School in England, a postgraduate diploma in general management and industrial relations from Fundação Getulio Vargas in Brazil, and a diploma in French literature and civilization from the Université de Nancy II in France.

Transcript:

Today’s breakthrough inventions, such as the iPhone, blend interdependent features in unique ways to unleash tremendous value. But creating them is challenging. Improving one feature can worsen others, and it may not be feasible to explore all possible combinations. So, how does an organization design a complex product for which there is no template? To gain insight into this question, we studied the creation of NASA’s space shuttle. The reusable spacecraft required integrating new solutions to many different features, such as fuel composition and payload capacity. We analyzed more than 7,000 pages from archives, including books, papers, and technical documents by NASA engineers. We uncovered two interrelated processes that supported the creation of this breakthrough ––oscillation and accumulation: • With oscillation, engineers focused on getting a specific feature and then stepped back from that solution to explore alternatives. They later returned to the initial solution with new insights. For example, in early iterations, they worked with liquid hydrogen and oxygen. Later, they reverted temporarily to an older fuel, kerosene, while they made progress on other features, such as payload capacity. • With accumulation, they increased the number of features meeting expectations. For example, they gradually combined the fuel composition of early iterations with the desired payload capacity.It sounds counterintuitive, but letting go of a solution for one feature creates the space for improving others. These insights can extend to many other settings, such as pharmaceuticals, in which creating breakthroughs requires masterful combination of interdependent features. For example, a researcher might identify a new compound that targets a disease pathway but set it aside temporarily due to side effects. After resolving those issues, the researcher returns to the compound. Raja Roy of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Minyoung Kim of The Ohio State University, and Curba Morris Lampert of Florida International University also participated in this research.

Read More:

[ScienceDirect] - Creating a breakthrough invention: NASA’s internal knowledge generation for the Space Shuttle

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

Francisco Polidoro, Jr., University of Texas at Austin - NASA’s 1969-71 Design Process Offers a Road Map for Today’s Breakthrough Inventions

The Academic Minute

Francisco Polidoro, Jr., University of Texas at Austin - NASA’s 1969-71 Design Process Offers a Road Map for Today’s Breakthrough Inventions