Emancipated Entrepreneurship in the European Space Sector: The Case of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic as a Driver for Space Tourism

Abstract

The emancipated entrepreneurship concept offers an approach for developing new businesses in highly uncertain circumstances, which is driven by the perspective of breaking-free from traditional boundaries. NewSpace revolution is happening right now, and the businesses, including well-funded companies as well as the new startups, are building-up on the newfound energy, which has made the sector innovative and democratic. While NewSpace has seen an emergence in the European region, the entrepreneurial success in the United States with private and public funding still outshines the rest of the world. The problem is that there is a lack of understanding within the European NewSpace ecosystem in identifying and describing NewSpace entrepreneurship activities. These ventures are undertaken by serial entrepreneurs using the constructs and framework of the emancipation perspective. The purpose of this embedded-case study is to examine how the entrepreneurs apply the emancipated-entrepreneurship approach and to discuss potential policy recommendations aimed at strengthening emancipated entrepreneurship within the European NewSpace. The study was approached through an in-depth examination of the emancipated entrepreneurship perspective as applied by Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic while developing a space tourism business model. The focus is on Branson’s emancipatory perspective that led to the launching of a new business that faced extremely high uncertainties. The embedded unit of analysis is on the actual activities undertaken by Branson that demonstrated the application of the critical elements of emancipatory entrepreneurship – “seeking autonomy,” “authoring,” and “making declarations.” Branson and Virgin Galactic’s emancipatory entrepreneurial drive proved to be positive for the NewSpace ecosystem as new business models were unveiled apart from technological advancements. The insights from this case study can be used to methodically trigger an emancipatory perspective in entrepreneurs interested in launching NewSpace business, reconsider or enhance related government policies as well as incentives, and develop new management practices, especially in the context of startups or intrapreneurial projects in the NewSpace domain.