ICC Advance Access originally published online on May 11, 2007
Industrial and Corporate Change 2007 16(5):875-911; doi:10.1093/icc/dtm007
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Technology and institutions in changing specialization: chemicals and motor vehicles in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany
Correspondence: Andrew Tylecote, Management School, University of Sheffield, 9 Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 4DT, UK. e-mail: A.Tylecote{at}sheffield.ac.uk
Correspondence: Giovanna Vertova, Department of Economics "Hyman P. Minsky," University of Bergamo, Via dei Caniana 2, 24127 Bergamo, Italy. e-mail: giovanna.vertova{at}unibg.it
JEL codes:: O330, O500, O140
There were radical changes in national specialization during the 20th century: Germany's loss of dominance—to the United States' and United Kingdom—in much of the chemicals industry; the United States loss of dominance—partly to Germany—and the collapse of the United Kingdom, in motor vehicles. The main measures used are patenting, trade and sales. The reversal is explained in terms of changing institutional demands of the sectors as their dominant technologies changed, and of far-reaching changes in the institutions relevant to the national system of innovation.