H.W. de Jong – författare

If a book needs a third edition, because the previous ones are sold out, one may well question whether an introduction is necessary. However, the Structure of European Industry was meant to be a flexible book, keeping it in tune with actual developments in the European Community. Some explanation is therefore required. Two new chapters on the services industry have been included, to recognize the growing importance of what is fundamentally a bundle of industries. It is also increasingly acknowledged, that the motorcar industry, for its efficiency and innovativeness, is very much dependent on the numerous suppliers, large and small, of the component parts industry. A chapter, reflecting on the strengths and weaknesses of the European car supplying industries is therefore most welcome. Finally, European competition policy, now fitted out with the Merger Control Regulation is moving more and more towards the centre of stage and the final chapter presents a survey of the ~ims and achievements of this type of policy, up till now steadfastly developed by the EC Commission. For the rest, the chapters which were already in the previous edition, have been updated and have partly been rewritten by the authors concerned. The editor is most grateful to old and new contributors for their efforts to jointly produce a book which, after 12 years, is still unique in providing a European, instead of a national focus on industries and markets.

This book - a renewed, third edition of the successful 1981 and 1988 works, published under the same title - contains 12 essays on the economic organization of important industries in the EC. Expert economists from universities and research institutes in France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, discuss basic industrial, manufacturing and services sectors from a structural and operational point of view. Their contributions unravel the strengths and weaknesses of these sectors now that "1992" has arrived. The focus of the book, European instead of "national", the key feature qualifying the previous editions, has been retained. In addition to the sectoral studies, the editor has written an introductory essay which deals with the concept of market structure, allowing the reader to understand both the theoretical background and the terms used in the following chapters. The book concludes with a survey of European competition policy, which has gained in scope and importance, particularly with the advent of merger control.

The present volume of essays on industrial organization, which are based on conferences held at Nijenrode and Brussels, differs considerably from its predecessor. Even more than in the first volume the essays demonstrate the broad scope of industrial organization analysis. Besides the traditional topics such as economies of scale, monopoly and competition policy, there are essays on methodology, on stagflation, and on the relationship between industrial struc­ ture and international trade and trade policies. The latter topics are of growing importance. The issue of restructuring industries and the question of whether free trade or some measure of protection is more appropriate are topics of increasing relevance today (and will no doubt continue to be in future years as well). The problem of persistent inflation which other essays address is also of major concern. Apart from being broad in scope and venturing into new fields, this volume is also controversial. Its central feature is a debate about welfare aspects. Here, more than in pure analysis, economists tend to entertain different points of view. One of the participants in the Nijenrode conference, Professor John Blair, who died in December 1976 and whom we honour as having been an active promoter of this kind of meeting, wrote to the editors shortly before his death to say that the first volume had succeeded very well in acquainting the reader with the results of empirical investigations, notably on trends and levels of concentration.

The present volume of essays on industrial organization, which are based on conferences held at Nijenrode and Brussels, differs considerably from its predecessor. Even more than in the first volume the essays demonstrate the broad scope of industrial organization analysis. Besides the traditional topics such as economies of scale, monopoly and competition policy, there are essays on methodology, on stagflation, and on the relationship between industrial struc­ ture and international trade and trade policies. The latter topics are of growing importance. The issue of restructuring industries and the question of whether free trade or some measure of protection is more appropriate are topics of increasing relevance today (and will no doubt continue to be in future years as well). The problem of persistent inflation which other essays address is also of major concern. Apart from being broad in scope and venturing into new fields, this volume is also controversial. Its central feature is a debate about welfare aspects. Here, more than in pure analysis, economists tend to entertain different points of view. One of the participants in the Nijenrode conference, Professor John Blair, who died in December 1976 and whom we honour as having been an active promoter of this kind of meeting, wrote to the editors shortly before his death to say that the first volume had succeeded very well in acquainting the reader with the results of empirical investigations, notably on trends and levels of concentration.

This book originated at a meeting of American and European specialists in in­ dustrial organization, at the Instituut voor Bedrijfskunde, Nijenrode (The Netherlands) in August, 1974. The conference endeavored to bring together re­ searchers in a field where, paradoxically, the underlying phenomena studied are increasingly coordinated and internationalized, yet the observers remain pre­ dominantly isolated. Only rarely do they resort to comparisons between coun­ tries, and still less frequently to an analysis from a transnational outlook. As the contributions to this collection demonstrate, it has become clearer and clearer that -whether or not as a result of a random process, or of technological conditions, or of deliberate enterprise strategy - the determinants of market structures and their changes as time passes, have created fundamentally similar effects in different countries, resulting in industrial structures of the same kind. Thus, the largest firms and plants are found in the same sectors, and the most concentrated industries are more or less the same from one country to the other. The studies of Prais, Reid, Jacquemin & Phlips and Linda likewise show that a broad trend toward concentration has been manifest.

This book originated at a meeting of American and European specialists in in­ dustrial organization, at the Instituut voor Bedrijfskunde, Nijenrode (The Netherlands) in August, 1974. The conference endeavored to bring together re­ searchers in a field where, paradoxically, the underlying phenomena studied are increasingly coordinated and internationalized, yet the observers remain pre­ dominantly isolated. Only rarely do they resort to comparisons between coun­ tries, and still less frequently to an analysis from a transnational outlook. As the contributions to this collection demonstrate, it has become clearer and clearer that -whether or not as a result of a random process, or of technological conditions, or of deliberate enterprise strategy - the determinants of market structures and their changes as time passes, have created fundamentally similar effects in different countries, resulting in industrial structures of the same kind. Thus, the largest firms and plants are found in the same sectors, and the most concentrated industries are more or less the same from one country to the other. The studies of Prais, Reid, Jacquemin & Phlips and Linda likewise show that a broad trend toward concentration has been manifest.

The present volume of essays on industrial organization, which are based on conferences held at Nijenrode and Brussels, differs considerably from its predecessor. Even more than in the first volume the essays demonstrate the broad scope of industrial organization analysis. Besides the traditional topics such as economies of scale, monopoly and competition policy, there are essays on methodology, on stagflation, and on the relationship between industrial struc­ ture and international trade and trade policies. The latter topics are of growing importance. The issue of restructuring industries and the question of whether free trade or some measure of protection is more appropriate are topics of increasing relevance today (and will no doubt continue to be in future years as well). The problem of persistent inflation which other essays address is also of major concern. Apart from being broad in scope and venturing into new fields, this volume is also controversial. Its central feature is a debate about welfare aspects. Here, more than in pure analysis, economists tend to entertain different points of view. One of the participants in the Nijenrode conference, Professor John Blair, who died in December 1976 and whom we honour as having been an active promoter of this kind of meeting, wrote to the editors shortly before his death to say that the first volume had succeeded very well in acquainting the reader with the results of empirical investigations, notably on trends and levels of concentration.

This book originated at a meeting of American and European specialists in in­ dustrial organization, at the Instituut voor Bedrijfskunde, Nijenrode (The Netherlands) in August, 1974. The conference endeavored to bring together re­ searchers in a field where, paradoxically, the underlying phenomena studied are increasingly coordinated and internationalized, yet the observers remain pre­ dominantly isolated. Only rarely do they resort to comparisons between coun­ tries, and still less frequently to an analysis from a transnational outlook. As the contributions to this collection demonstrate, it has become clearer and clearer that -whether or not as a result of a random process, or of technological conditions, or of deliberate enterprise strategy - the determinants of market structures and their changes as time passes, have created fundamentally similar effects in different countries, resulting in industrial structures of the same kind. Thus, the largest firms and plants are found in the same sectors, and the most concentrated industries are more or less the same from one country to the other. The studies of Prais, Reid, Jacquemin & Phlips and Linda likewise show that a broad trend toward concentration has been manifest.

If a book needs a third edition, because the previous ones are sold out, one may well question whether an introduction is necessary. However, the Structure of European Industry was meant to be a flexible book, keeping it in tune with actual developments in the European Community. Some explanation is therefore required. Two new chapters on the services industry have been included, to recognize the growing importance of what is fundamentally a bundle of industries. It is also increasingly acknowledged, that the motorcar industry, for its efficiency and innovativeness, is very much dependent on the numerous suppliers, large and small, of the component parts industry. A chapter, reflecting on the strengths and weaknesses of the European car supplying industries is therefore most welcome. Finally, European competition policy, now fitted out with the Merger Control Regulation is moving more and more towards the centre of stage and the final chapter presents a survey of the ~ims and achievements of this type of policy, up till now steadfastly developed by the EC Commission. For the rest, the chapters which were already in the previous edition, have been updated and have partly been rewritten by the authors concerned. The editor is most grateful to old and new contributors for their efforts to jointly produce a book which, after 12 years, is still unique in providing a European, instead of a national focus on industries and markets.

The present two volumes contain the essays and part of the discussions as presented at the conference on Mainstreams in Industrial Organiza­ tion, held at the University of Amsterdam, 21-23 August 1985. The thema was chosen because the field of studies commonly designated "industrial organization" in the Anglo-Saxon countries, or "market theory" in Continental Europe, has experienced important alterations during the past decade. Partly this reflects changing theoretical views inside the field, in which shifts in the core concepts have occurred and different emphasis is laid on time-honoured views and results. Partly, critical views have been voiced from outside the field. As in all open scientific debate, they have to be weighed and, if necessary, taken into account. Partly also, diver­ gent developments in thinking between the Anglo-Saxon, European and Japanese areas need to be considered, because both the problems and the ways of approaching them still differ. The variety of views, theori~s and results is testimony to the vitality of this field of economics; variety is generated by the creative endeavours, from which the chaff is being beaten out by critical discussions. That is especially true for the concept of competition itself, which industrial organization economists are debating intensively.