Michael Porter published the Value Chain Analysis in 1985 as a response to criticism that his Five Forces framework lacked an implementation methodology that bridged the gap between internal capabilities and opportunities in the competitive landscape. This framework focused on industry attractiveness as a determinant of the profit potential of all companies...

The British sociologist, Roy Rothwell, an academic primarily at the University of Sussex, was widely regarded as one of the pioneers in Industrial innovation with his significant contributions to the understanding of innovation management. Rothwell’s five generations (5G) of innovation provides an historic overview of industrial...

The American sociologist, Charles Perrow, developed a classification scheme based on the knowledge required to operate technology. Technology is an important factor in contingency theory. It assumed that the type of technology determines an organisation's most effective structure and success in the market. Perrow used two dimensions to create his typology....

Michael Porter's innovative research in the 1980's changed managers' perceptions of their own industry's importance as a factor for their company's strategy. Business unit managers would now have to study their industry's characteristics since an industry's structure determines its relative economic attractiveness and hence, the profit potential of all companies...