How Catastrophic Innovation Failure Affects Organizational and Industry Legitimacy: The 2014 Virgin Galactic Test Flight Crash

We examine how catastrophic innovation failure affects organizational and industry legitimacy in nascent sectors by analyzing the interactions between Virgin Galactic and stakeholders in the space community in the aftermath of the firm’s 2014 test flight crash. Following catastrophic innovation failure, we find that industry participants use their interpretations of the failure to either uphold or challenge the legitimacy of the firm while maintaining the legitimacy of the industry. These dynamics yield two interesting effects. First, we show that, in upholding the legitimacy of the industry, different industry participants rhetorically redraw the boundaries of the industry to selectively include players they consider legitimate and exclude those they view as illegitimate: detracting stakeholders constrain the boundaries of the industry by excluding the firm or excluding the firm and its segment, whereas the firm and supporting stakeholders amplify the boundaries of the industry by including firms in adjacent high-legitimacy sectors. Second, we show that, in assessing organizational legitimacy, the firm and its stakeholders differ in the way they approach distinctiveness between the identities of the industry and the firm. Detracting stakeholders differentiate the firm from the rest of the industry and isolate it, whereas the firm and supporting stakeholders reidentify the firm with the industry, embedding the firm within it. Overall, our findings illuminate the effects that catastrophic innovation failure has over high-order dynamics that affect the evolution of nascent industries.

The Problems of Engineering Students’ Professional Identity

Engineering education at Ural Federal University has its traditions; one of them is the design of new programs for nascent industries and flexible adaptation to changes in the economy. It allows UrFU engineering programs not only to survive in the conditions of constant external and internal changes but also to remain highly demanded and competitive. The article describes the problems of the professional identity of students of engineering programs, organizational models and didactic techniques that ensure professionalization in the framework of the leading educational programs of the UrFU Engineering School, which have been tested as part of pilot training for undergraduate students in the program ”System Analysis and Management.” The results of the survey among students and graduates of the program, which was conducted in order to understand their professional identity and awareness of the choice of an educational program for obtaining a profession, are presented. Keywords: Learning outcomes, CDIO initiative, benchmark, modeling, Industry 4.0, student-centered learning, internships, professional identity, efficiency

Japan will be tempting target for cyberattacks

Significance Japan faces a variety of cyber threats, predominantly from its geopolitical rivals. Some nascent industries are particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks: the cryptocurrency industry has been badly affected. Cybersecurity is therefore becoming an increasingly important component of Japan’s economic security. Impacts Japan's cryptocurrency industry faces an uphill struggle to salvage its reputation and continue attracting investment. Initiatives developing cyber awareness at the C-suite level will improve leadership on cybersecurity issues. Private cybersecurity firms will have new opportunities to engage with the government, whose strategy involves further outsourcing.