"Brands and the Organization of Industries"

Research on the evolution of industries tends to focus on technological innovation and also business models and organizational innovation (Nelson and Winder, 1982; Rosenberg, 1982; Levin, Cohen and Mowery, 1985, among others). This paper focuses on brands, the soft side of innovation, to explain how important they have been in explaining the dynamic evolution of industries. Drawing on a business historical approach, based on in-depth archival research and on different levels of institutional analysis (ranging from nation, to industry, firm and brand/product) it argues that brands have been increasingly important in explaining the dynamics of several industries (even those that are technology based); brand innovations can produce great disruptions in industries just like technological innovations, by changing industry structures and performance, the boundaries of firms and the ‘rules of the game’; and that brands can be central in explaining globalization and deglobalization of industries, impacting on global value chains, and also politically, economically and socially in different parts of the world.