This book examines the role of competence, organization and strategies of firms in industrial dynamics linking economic, management and historical perspectives. In the first part of the book, a series of economic and managerial contributions discuss the concepts, dimensions and effects of routines, competence, adaptation, learning, organizational structure and strategies in the evolution of industrial enterprises at the theoretical and empirical levels. In the second part of the book, a series of historical papers examine these issues in a longterm perspective for the United States, Japan and several European countries.

Notes on the Contributors - Introduction; G.Dosi & F.Malerba - PART 1: LEARNING, CORPORATE ORGANIZATION AND STRATEGIES - Learning and Schumpeterian Dynamics; D.Levinthal - Technological Regimes and Firm Behaviour; F.Malerba & L.Orsenigo - Incentives Routines and Self Command; S.Postrel & R.Rumelt - From Individual Biases to Organizational Errors; D.Lovallo - Structure, Competence and Learning in an Adaptive Model of the Firm; L.Marengo - Managing Core Competences for Corporate Renewal; I.Doz - Technological Innovation and Firm Inertia; P.Schoemaker & L.Marais - Strategies of Competence Accumulation; K.MacCrimmon - PART 2: ORGANIZATION AND STRATEGIES IN A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE - Corporate Strategy, Structure and Control Methods in the United States During the 20th Century; A.Chandler - National Organizing Principles and the Erstwhile Dominance of the American Multinational Corporation; B.Kogut - Two Distorting Mirrors for British Manufacturing Performance: International and Sectoral Comparisons; L.Hannah - Business Management in Japan: A Comparative Historical Study; K.Nakagawa - The French Case; L.Leboyer - The Impact of Preindustrial Heritage; B.Dornseifer & J.Kocka - Size and Strategy of Italian Industrial Enterprises: Empirical Evidence and Some Conjectures; Giannetti et al - PART 3: THE INSTITUTIONAL EMBEDDEDNESS OF CORPORATE BEHAVIOURS: NATIONAL SYSTEMS OF PRODUCTION AND INNOVATION - National Innovation Systems; R.Nelson - Institutions and Economic Development in the Advanced Countries; J.Zysman - Index