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JRekers

Josephine Rekers

Senior lecturer

JRekers

Revisiting the role of selection for the evolution of industries

Author

  • Markus Grillitsch
  • Josephine Rekers

Summary, in English

Despite a growing reliance on evolutionary theories when explaining industrial dynamics, the mechanism of selection has received limited attention. Selection is often taken for granted and conceptualised as product market competition. We go beyond this view and distinguish between different types of selection—formal and social—and consider how these lead to different entities being selected. Formal selection relies on codified selection criteria and often applies in selection environments where processes are standardised and institutions formalised. Social selection relies on reputation, referrals and previous interactions in order to evaluate intangible properties of the entities being selected. We argue that firms compete in multiple selection environments, not limited to product markets, that different selection environments may rely on different types of selection and that this has profound implications for industrial dynamics. This theoretical discussion is inspired by empirical observations of the medical technology industry in Sweden.

Department/s

  • CIRCLE
  • Department of Human Geography

Publishing year

2016-02-01

Language

English

Pages

112-129

Publication/Series

Industry and Innovation

Volume

23

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Routledge

Topic

  • Human Geography

Keywords

  • evolution
  • industrial dynamics
  • med-tech
  • Selection

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1366-2716