Comparing private and public approaches to state megaproject implementation: The R100-R101 airship development case study

Catherine Jill Bamforth and Malcolm Abbott

Business History, 2023, vol. 65, issue 1, 131-156

Abstract: State support is critical to enhancing a country’s capacity for innovation and for delivering large-scale complex projects where significant upfront investment is required. These megaprojects are high risk due to their size, investment level, time duration and the type of innovation required. Their complexity means that context affects decision-making, innovation approach taken and project implementation. We utilise the 1921 Great Britain Imperial Airship Scheme to examine the impact of environment on the delivery by a State/government firm and a Private firm of a megaproject bound by common technical specifications. Edquist’s System of Innovation (2006) was used to examine the context; Flyvbjerg’s four sublimes (2012, 2014) to examine shifting stakeholder motivations, and Morris and Geraldi (2011) project management levels to critically examine how the megaproject unfolded. We argue the value of using select contemporary theory to deepen understanding of past historical megaproject implementation and perceptions of success.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00076791.2020.1806823 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:bushst:v:65:y:2023:i:1:p:131-156

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/FBSH20

DOI: 10.1080/00076791.2020.1806823

Access Statistics for this article

Business History is currently edited by Professor John Wilson and Professor Steven Toms

More articles in Business History from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().