This thesis examines the process of industry evolution through a comparative analysis of three Irish wholesaling industries. In doing so it responds to a pressing need for research that examines the structural evolution o f non-manufactunng mdustnes. The focus is on identifying the drivers of industry change and examining the patterns of process. It has been earned out primarily within a strategic management perspective.\ud
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The research design is multi-level and multi-modal m the tradition of the Warwick studies on industrial and corporate change. The approach is inductive, qualitative and longitudinal-processual, using a comparative case-based method.\ud
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The thesis makes a number of contributions at both the empirical and analytical levels. At the empincal level it adds three new case studies to the limited pool of published material on industry evolution in general, and Irish wholesaling in particular. Nine empirical drivers of industry change are identified and related to the three main theoretical change motors highlighted in the strategy and related literatures (efficiency, differential power, and institutional power) A five-phase pattern of industry evolution is revealed and examined.\ud
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The analysis highlights the limitations of single-dnver theories o f change. It also identifies an additional theoretical motor ( ‘thymos’) not prominent in the literature and examines its implications. The five-phase pattern of industry evolution is a punctuated equilibrium model and highlights the limitations of industry hfe-cycle theory. It also questions the sharpness of the revolutionary cycle that is a central element in most mainstream punctuated equilibrium perspectives. At a more philosophical level, the study challenges the level of determinism evident in most of the mam theoretical frameworks. The analysis also makes a contribution to the substantive literatures on three o f the mam empirical drivers of change identified, government, trade associations and leadership