Technological Regimes, Industrial Demography and the Evolution of Industrial Structures

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to weave together the new theories and empirical evidence analyzing firms and industries in motion, or what has been termed as industry demographics. In particular, the links between the technological regime underlying an industry and the observed patterns of industry demography are emphasized. Although a major conclusion of this new literature is that the structure of industries is perhaps better characterized by a high degree of fluidity and turbulence than stability, the patterns of industry demographics vary considerably from industry to industry. And what apparently shapes the evolution of firms particular to a specific industry is, as much as anything else, the knowledge conditions shaping the technological regime underlying that industry