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Sources of Industrial Leadership

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Sources of Industrial Leadership

Studies of Seven Industries

Cambridge UP,

15 min read
9 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

It may not be sexy, but it’s solid: the editors offer examinations of seven industries born in the U.S.A., Japan, and Western Europe, and all affected by technological innovation. Find out which industrial babies boomed and who won the battles to dominate the global playground.

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

Scholars from around the world provided seven chapter-length overviews of leadership in seven key industries. Editors David C. Mowery and Richard R. Nelson present these detailed, well-documented and richly written explorations in context by offering an analysis in chapters that follow each industry study. The forces that moved these industries in the U.S., Japan and Western Europe included technological innovation, world politics, changing marketing, product innovation and the advent of mass production. getAbstract recommends this book to those interested in the progress of the seven industries covered - computers, computer software, semiconductors, machine tools, organic chemical products, pharmaceutical biotechnology and medical devices - and in global commerce and manufacturing.

Summary

Industrial Leadership (More than Nuts and Bolts)

Technological innovation has played, and continues to play, an important role in the evolution of industry worldwide. To examine this impact, seven industries were highlighted: semiconductors, computers, computer software, machine tools, organic chemical products, pharmaceutical biotechnology, and medical devices.

Each industry study compares the development of these industries in the United States, Japan, and Western Europe. In each industry, clear technological and commercial leaders emerged, yet leadership shifted frequently. "The identity of leading firms sometimes changed, occasionally more than once, during the development of several of these industries." In some cases, this involved a leadership shift among different countries. In other cases, changing tides produced new leading firms in the same nation as the previous leader. In each industry, the study focuses on identifying the factors that led to the "emergence of national leadership, and the reasons behind the shifts that occurred."

Each industry study offers a complex history. Each industry is affected by the struggle for industrial leadership, which...

About the Authors

David C. Mowery  is the Milton W. Terrill Professor of Business Administration at the Walter A. Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. He is co-author with Nathan Rosenberg of Paths of Innovation: Technological Change in 20th-Century America and Technology and the Pursuit of Economic Growth, and editor of The International Computer Software Industry Richard R. Nelson  is the George Blumenthal Professor of International and Public Affairs, Business, and Law at Columbia University. He has also taught at Oberlin College, Yale University, and Carnegie Mellon University, and served as a researcher at RAND and the Council of Economic Advisers. His previous books include An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change with Sidney Winter, and National Innovation Systems

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