Arms and innovation : entrepreneurship and alliances in the twenty-first-century defense industry / James Hasik.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hasik, James M., 1966-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Defense industries--United States.

Defense industries.

Defense industries--Technological innovations--United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (199 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

With many of the most important new military systems of the past decade produced by small firms that won competitive government contracts, defense-industry consultant James Hasik argues in Arms and Innovation that small firms have a number of advantages relative to their bigger competitors. Such firms are marked by an entrepreneurial spirit and fewer bureaucratic obstacles, and thus can both be more responsive to changes in the environment and more strategic in their planning. This is demonstrated, Hasik shows, by such innovation in military technologies as those that protect troops from roadside bombs in Iraq and the Predator drones that fly over active war zones and that are crucial to our new war on terror. For all their advantages, small firms also face significant challenges in access to capital and customers. To overcome such problems, they can form alliances either with each other or with larger companies. Hasik traces the trade-offs of such alliances and provides crucial insight into their promises and pitfalls. This ground-breaking study is a significant contribution to understanding both entrepreneurship and alliances, two crucial factors in business generally. It will be of interest to readers in the defense sector as well as the wider business community.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

1. The Fast and the Many The Theoretical Background on Small Firms and Alliances in the Arms Industry

2. Dream Teams and Brilliant Eyes The SBIRS Low Program, Northrop Grumman's Acquisition of TRW, and the Implications for the Structure of the Military Space Industry

3. Unmanned, Unafraid, and Underscoped Success in Four Wars with the Predator Reconnaissance-Strike Drone

4. Five Bombs in One Hole, and Cheaply The Joint Direct Attack Munition and the Mass Production of Precision Destruction

5. Dili and the Pirates HMAS Jervis Bay and the Military Potential of Aluminum Catamarans

6. Mountains Miles Apart Power Scene, the Dayton Peace Talks, and the Demise of Cambridge Research Associates

7. Drop Your Purse Force Protection and Blast-Resistant Vehicles

8. The Two Towers Concluding Advice to Small Firms, Large Firms, and Governments

Notes

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [153]-183) and index.

ISBN:

9786611957100

9781281957108

1281957100

9780226318899

0226318893

OCLC:

436096151