Exploiting the potential and tackling the problems of resource-based and competence-based research, this paper develops a proposal for a competence-based theory of the firm (CbTF). The CbTF is based on the fundamentals of market process theory and is independent of existing approaches to explaining the nature of the firm. The paper addresses the basics of the theory in terms of the philosophy of science by referring to the Lakatos model and the position of CbTF in organization theory. The fundamental question of the nature of the firm is approached by the notion of an organizational `ambiente' and by using findings of entrepreneurship research.

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The explanandum 'industry transformation' is conceptualized against the background of market process theories. A system of indicators to measure industry transformation is set up and typical patterns of development and challenges for entrepreneurial action on business-to-business markets are derived.Analyzing industry transformation requires a co-evolutionary approach. Change is then detected using different indicators, exemplified using the German healthcare sector as an insight to business-to-business markets in transition. Entrepreneurial action is the key to an evolutionary understanding of business systems as drivers of change processes and the fact that -at the same time -they are driven by them. Typical features of industry transformation include historicity, path dependencies, and evolutionary interpretations of specificity leading to trajectories and multiple patterns like for example (dis-/re-)intermediation and cooperation.

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