Ethnocentric vs. Regiocentric Consolidation in the Aerospace and

Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I would like to thank my LSE PhD supervisor, Professor Lord William Wallace,
who spent countless hours reviewing earlier drafts of this thesis. Without his superb intellectual
guidance and strong personal commitment to seeing me through on this challenging multi-year
endeavour, it would have been truly impossible to complete my thesis. In this context, I would also
like to thank my first two LSE supervisors, Professor Christopher Hill and Professor David
Stasavage, who helped shape my PhD research design at an early stage, before they both left
London.
Second, I would like to thank Professor Klaus Schwab as well as my former colleagues at the
World Economic Forum in Geneva, including John Moavanzadeh, Andy Richards, and Kevin
Steinberg, for all their crucial support in backing my initial PhD programme enrolment at LSE.
Third, I am grateful to the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) for providing me with
one of those rare full-tuition and living stipend scholarships to support my PhD studies at LSE.
Fourth, at Sciences Po in Paris, I am indebted to Professor Guillaume Devin, who, as my DEA
(MPhil) thesis supervisor first sparked my interest in the political, strategic, and economic
dimensions of the aerospace and defence industry. I am also grateful to Professor Bertrand Badie,
the head of Sciences Po’s DEA programme, for facilitating my successful integration into the
French academic system.
Fifth, I would like to thank Professor Jeff Anderson and his team at Georgetown University’s BMW
Center for German and European Studies for welcoming me as Visiting Scholar to conduct relevant
PhD research while living in Washington, DC. As a MSFS Class of 2000 alumn, I am a big fan of
Georgetown’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, where I am teaching a graduate-level
course on “The Aerospace and Defence Industry in a Globalised World”.
Sixth, I would like to thank my friends and former classmates at LSE, above all Dr. Steve Donzé
and Dr. Bastian Giegerich, for their personal support and encouragement during my PhD
endeavour. I am also extending a special thank you to many other friends and colleagues who
supported my PhD work in a variety of ways, including Dr. Dimitrios Argirakos, Alf Ivar Blikberg,
Dr. Arthur Brothag, August Cole, Professor James Davis, Anne Gantén, Dr. Olaf Groth, Dr. John
Hamre, Bjoern Hellmich, Bob Helm, Conrad F. Heede, Dr. Peter C. Hughes, Matthias Lohmann,
Dr. Maximilian Martin, Christoph Steinl, Steve Tebbe, Dr. Manfred von Nordheim, Christine
Walsh, Dr. Michael Werz, Dr. Cornelia Woll, among others.
4