A Place for Space in Geography?

A Place for Space in Geography?

SATELLITES, ROCKETS AND SERVICES: A PLACE FOR SPACE IN GEOGRAPHY? By CHLOE ASHTON BILLING A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Birmingham SEPTEMBER 2016 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT Despite the importance of satellite-enabled applications to society, geographical discussions of the space sector have been dominated by accounts of the geopolitics ‘up there’, without due consideration of the industry driving the use of space ‘down here’. As a result, the geography of the space sector, and the interactions between the agents and institutions involved, have been overlooked in the academic literature. To address this ‘silence’, this thesis explores the competitiveness, organisation and governance of the UK space sector. The primary method of data collection for this thesis was eighty semi-structured interviews with representatives from the UK space sector. The conceptual framework integrated economic and geopolitical concepts on competitiveness, organisation and governance. Key findings of this thesis include: (i) orbital slots and frequency spectrum are competitive assets, which highlight the verticality of our economy; (ii) heritage is a source of competitiveness, which can cause technological lock-in; (iii) different segments within the UK space sector manage their own production projects, which are linked by buyer-supplier relationships (BSRs); (iv) BSRs are influenced by buyers, contracts, technology, time and geography; and (v) the governance of the UK space sector is multi-centric, with a dominance of regulatory forms. This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Garry and Deborah Billing, for everything. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply indebted to the following people who have made this research possible: My research participants – I am so grateful to you all for taking the time to help me with my project. I am most fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet such a talented and inspirational group of people. Special thanks go to Michael Lawrence, Richard Peckham, Stephen Small, Phil Davies, Andy German, Sam Adlen and Brian Norton for your extra guidance and support. Professor John Bryson – Thank-you for everything you have taught me and for all of the opportunities you have provided me with. I could not have wished for a better supervisor and I owe so much to you. Doctor Lauren Andres – Thank-you so much for all of your guidance, generosity and extra support. I could not have done this without you and I am so grateful for all of your time and effort. Amy Billing and Kenneth Key – Amy, I am so grateful for the care and time you took to read my work. I owe you a 1000 Double Deckers for your commitment, in spite of being so many miles away. Grandad, thank you for always being the biggest fan of my research. Grandma, thank you for letting him be and for all of your support; I’ve “nearly finished”. Mum, Dad, Rohanna, Amy, Josh and Ruby – Thank-you for willing me to be the best I can be and helping me to believe I can succeed. You keep me smiling and inspire me every day. Felix, Ryan and Alistair, you are part of our team too. James – Thank-you for your love, kindness, patience and always giving me something to look forward to. I am so excited for our next chapter. I would also like to sincerely thank ESRC for funding my research. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 GEOGRAPHY AND OUTER SPACE .................................................................................... 1 1.1 Genesis of the Research ........................................................................................................... 6 1.1.1 Why Space? ....................................................................................................................... 6 1.2 Research Aims and Objectives................................................................................................. 9 1.3 Research Process .................................................................................................................... 10 1.4 Structure of the Thesis ........................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 2 A PLACE FOR ‘SPACE’ IN GEOGRAPHY: THE COMPETITIVENESS, ORGANISATION AND GOVERNANCE OF THE UK SPACE SECTOR ..................... 17 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 17 2.2. An Academic View of Space ................................................................................................ 18 2.3 Understanding Firm-Level Competitiveness ......................................................................... 22 2.3.1 Understanding Firm-Level Competitiveness: the Resource-Based View (RBV) ........... 24 2.3.2 Understanding Competitiveness: Tangible or Physical Assets ....................................... 28 2.3.3 Understanding Competitiveness: The Evolutionary Perspective .................................... 30 2.3.4 Understanding Competitiveness: External Factors ......................................................... 32 2.3.5 Competitiveness of the UK Space Sector ....................................................................... 33 2.4 Organisation of Production .................................................................................................... 34 2.4.1 Distribution of Production Tasks .................................................................................... 34 2.4.2 The Nature and Extent of Buyer/Supplier Relationships ................................................ 40 2.4.3 The Organisation of Production in the UK Space Sector ................................................ 50 2.5 Governance ............................................................................................................................ 51 2.5.1 Public Governance .......................................................................................................... 53 2.5.2 Private Governance ......................................................................................................... 58 2.5.3 Competing Models for Analysing Governance ............................................................... 60 2.5.4 The Governance of the UK Space Sector ........................................................................ 63 2.6 Conceptual Framework .......................................................................................................... 64 2.7 Concluding Remarks .............................................................................................................. 68 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH DESIGN, APPROACH AND METHODS .................................................... 73 3.2 Research Approach ................................................................................................................ 74 3.3 Desk-based Research and Identification of Research Cases .................................................. 76 3.3.1 Defining the Object of My Study .................................................................................... 77 3.3.2 Identification of Research Cases ..................................................................................... 80 3.3.3 The Sampling Strategy .................................................................................................... 85 3.4 Access to Cases ...................................................................................................................... 90 3.5 Ethical Review and Practices ................................................................................................. 95 3.6 Designing the Interview Schedule and Implementation......................................................... 96 3.6.1 Interview Schedule .......................................................................................................... 97 3.6.2 Interview Process ............................................................................................................ 99 3.6.3 Positionality .................................................................................................................. 101 3.6.4 Additional Data Collection: Attending the UK Space Conference ............................... 102 3.7. Data Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 102 3.7.1 Developing the code manual ......................................................................................... 104 3.7.2 Applying the codes ........................................................................................................ 104 3.7.3 Connecting the codes .................................................................................................... 105 3.7.4 Corroborating and legitimising coding ........................................................................

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