Technological Change, Knowledge Base, and Industry Dynamics: Theory, Methods, and the Case of the Automotive Industry

Based on a broad analysis of conceptual streams of thinking and empirical literature, this chapter offers an overview of the complex relationships linking the “knowledge base” of an industry to its evolution. The chapter zooms in on the dynamics of multi-technology industries, that is, industries whose products are made up of components that embody many technologies characterized by uneven rates of change. To illustrate such dynamics, the chapter reports evidence drawn from studies of the automotive industry. This literature review suggests that understanding the knowledge base of industries is essential to interpret their structure, evolution, and competitive dynamics. Nonetheless, the chapter shows that the existing methodological approaches to the dynamic mapping of industries’ knowledge base have limitations, which are particularly severe in the context of multi-technology industries. Specifically, traditional patent-based approaches allow to trace the accumulation of competences in the industry’s core domain but may not be suitable to uncover emerging technological trends.