IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/indinn/v21y2014i3p197-214.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Learning from a Drastic Failure: The Case of the Airbus A380 Program

Author

Listed:
  • Isabel D�rfler
  • Oliver Baumann

Abstract

How do organizations learn from a drastic failure? We distinguish between ad hoc and systematic reactions and discuss their effectiveness for dealing with two basic challenges: (1) identifying and solving the problems that caused the failure; and (2) changing the organization accordingly. We apply this conceptual perspective to illustrate the dynamics of learning from the drastic failure that occurred during the development of the Airbus A380 "superjumbo." Our findings echo extant observations that efforts to redesign organizational behavior in an ad hoc manner are often insufficient. Instead, the organizational system must provide scaffolding that allows experiencing a critical event in a rich and systematic manner. When seen from a dynamic perspective, however, we find that even imperfect ad hoc efforts may play a vital role. By enforcing changes, providing stability, and raising awareness, they can act as a helpful prelude to more systematic problem solving and change.

Suggested Citation

  • Isabel D�rfler & Oliver Baumann, 2014. "Learning from a Drastic Failure: The Case of the Airbus A380 Program," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 197-214, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:indinn:v:21:y:2014:i:3:p:197-214
    DOI: 10.1080/13662716.2014.910891
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/13662716.2014.910891
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13662716.2014.910891?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rhaiem, Khalil & Halilem, Norrin, 2023. "The worst is not to fail, but to fail to learn from failure: A multi-method empirical validation of learning from innovation failure," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    2. Khalil Rhaiem & Nabil Amara, 2021. "Learning from innovation failures: a systematic review of the literature and research agenda," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 189-234, February.
    3. Leoncini, Riccardo, 2016. "Learning-by-failing. An empirical exercise on CIS data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 376-386.
    4. Baxter, David & Trott, Paul & Ellwood, Paul, 2023. "Reconceptualising innovation failure," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(7).
    5. Sun, Xiaoqian & Wandelt, Sebastian & Zhang, Anming, 2021. "Technological and educational challenges towards pandemic-resilient aviation," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 104-115.
    6. Naghizadeh, Mohammad & Manteghi, Manoochehr & Ranga, Marina & Naghizadeh, Reza, 2017. "Managing integration in complex product systems: The experience of the IR-150 aircraft design program," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 253-261.
    7. Ferreira, João J.M. & Fernandes, Cristina I. & Ferreira, Fernando A.F., 2020. "Wearing failure as a path to innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 195-202.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:indinn:v:21:y:2014:i:3:p:197-214. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CIAI20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.