One should initially note the fundamental difference in the dynamics of development of the two space companies chosen by its leaders, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Despite the fact that this information is in the public domain, few people know that Bezos began investing in the development of space programs two years before Musk. His company Blue Origin, which embodies dreams of conquering space, was founded in parallel with maintaining control over Amazon, which is still Bezos’ main source of income.
Jeff Bezos has a strategy where taking things slowly equals doing quality work. The company tends to avoid major breakthroughs; however, in this way, it is insured against failures. Bezos’ conservative approach is symbolized by the Aesopian turtle that is painted on Blue Origin rockets after every successful flight. This expresses the whole concept of Bezos as a successful entrepreneur. For Bezos, if going slowly means smoothly and accurately, then there is an opportunity to outperform faster and more unstable competitors in the overall large-scale race (Grădinaru et al., 2020). Elon Musk, the leader of the competitive SpaceX program, is investing more than Bezos and attracting third-party funding from a number of global investors (Fernholz, 2019). A lot of Musk’s space projects may fail to launch, but their number and level of journalistic coverage draw attention to them. This accordingly requires SpaceX to keep its activities up to date and attract the attention of the public and investors.
However, the excessive and chaotic activity of Musk’s company slows down his plans, particularly the project of sending a man to the moon. Bezos controls financial investments on his own, investing in the space program from his own pocket, which gives him the opportunity to more accurately track the development of projects. This and the absence of the need to attract public attention is the advantage of Bezos’ business strategy.
Reference
Fernholz, T. (2019). Rocket billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the new space race. First Mariner Books.
Grădinaru, C., Toma, S.-G., Catana, S., & Andrisan, G. (2020). A view on transformational leadership: The case of Jeff Bezos. Manager, 31, 93-100.