Technological Regimes, Industrial Demography and the Evolution of Industrial Structures

The purpose of this paper is to weave together the new theoriesand empirical evidence analyzing firms and industries in motion,or what has been termed ‘industrial demographics’.In particular, the links between the technological regime underlyingan industry and the observed patterns of industry demographyare emphasized. Although a major conclusion of this new literatureis that the structure of industries is perhaps better characterizedby a high degree of fluidity and turbulence than stability,the patterns of industry demographics vary considerably fromindustry to industry. And what apparently shapes the evolutionof firms particular to a specific industry is, as much as anythingelse, the knowledge conditions shaping the technological regimeunderlying that industry.