The growing popularity of explaining firm performance through dynamic capabilities has motivated plenty of conceptual development in the field. However, empirical approaches to measuring dynamic capabilities have so far not been under comprehensive scrutiny. The authors; purpose is to assess the extent to which different ways of measuring dynamic capabilities in quantitative studies correspond to the theoretical essence of the concept, and develop recommendations for future research. They find that four types of operationalizations have been used: (1) managers' evaluations;(2) financial data; (3) company's experience, actions and performance; and (4) managers' or employees' experience, actions and performance. Based on their analysis, the authors provide eight recommendations for future research that relate to identifying ordinary and dynamic capabilities, avoiding common method bias, taking into account the quality and fitness rather than the quantity of dynamic capabilities, and acknowledging the cumulativeness of dynamic capabilities through the use of longitudinal data. They conclude that refining the dynamic capability operationalizations would help to formulate competing hypotheses and to increase the theoretical precision of the field.

This paper explicates the key mechanisms and research themes of industry life-cycle theory and assesses the extent to which empirical evidence supports such an approach. It is based on a review of 216 industry life-cycle studies. The review of the theory is organized around industry emergence and transition to industry maturity. The key research themes concern changes in industry structure, changes in the nature of innovation, and the determinants of survival. Three potential special cases, i.e. services, complex products and systems, and cultural industries, are identified, and five research questions for future enquiry are presented. IntroductionThe search for regularities in the aging patterns of different industries has inspired the development of industry life-cycle (ILC) theory. The theory aims to explain changes in technological development and industry structure over the period that the industry ages. This stream of research began as the study of the American car manufacturing industry (Abernathy 1978;Abernathy and Clark 1985;Abernathy and Utterback 1978). It has become an established theory appearing in academic research, business school curricula and management consulting. There has been a constant stream of ILC studies exploring the theory's propositions in different industries and countries, and seeking more detailed explanations on various life-cycle phases. It is now a good time to take stock of the key research themes, examine the types of data used to build them, and summarize the empirical findings. This allows the research gaps and future research directions to be identified. The present paper aims to draw together current knowledge on ILC and thereby explore gaps for further enquiry. This is performed by reviewing the literature in order to (1) explicate the mechanisms that produce the life-cycle pattern, (2) summarize the key research themes, (3) assess empirical work relating to the themes and (4) identify research gaps to be addressed by future research.The starting point for the review was the identification of early and influential ILC papers. This was carried out through searches in ISI Web of Knowledge using the terms 'industry life cycle', 'product life cycle' and modifications thereof. Articles deemed to be early and influential life-cycle papers were those that (1) were cited more than 100 times, (2) were published prior to 2000, (3) were linked to Abernathy, Utterback and Klepper's work, and (4) used entries and exits as central variables. Citing Abernathy, Utterback or Klepper was used as a qualifier because their work is central to the literature in question, and they appear relatively early in the development of the theory. This resulted in a list of seven papers (Anderson and Tushman 1990; These articles were used to track the citing paths forwards and backwards in order to arrive at a comprehensive Acknowledgements: The author wishes to thank Mikko Jääskeläinen, Pasi Kuusela, Juha-Antti Lamberg and three anonymous reviewers for helpful discussions and comments on previous versio...

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During the last decade cultural industries have grown in economic importance, and research interest in them has increased. Despite prolific research, there is a lack of a comprehensive view on the subject. The purpose of the present paper is to offer a reconceptualization of cultural industries by tracing their boundaries, their features and the dynamics that follow from these features. This is achieved through a review of 314 cultural industries studies, whereby a classification system of three main and six sub-categories is constructed. On the basis of the review, a framework for future research is presented. Most importantly, future research should examine selection criteria and selection performance, and explore the relationships between tastes, sales, diversity and quality. In this way, researchers might be able to create some order in the extreme uncertainty that cultural industries managers face. 2 INTRODUCTIONResearch on cultural industries has become increasingly popular. This has been motivated by the growth of the economic importance of such sectors (see e.g. United Nations 2010), by the introduction of cultural and creative industries policies (e.g. DCMS 2008), and perhaps also by researchers' passion for and interest in sectors like film, music and video games.Despite increasing popularity, we lack a comprehensive view of the subject. Some cultural industries researchers emphasize the selection system cultural goods need to pass through to reach audiences (e.g. Hirsch 1972), while others highlight the inherent uncertainty concerning the success potential of any cultural good when they do so (e.g. De Vany 2004). For yet others cultural goods are defined by their non-utilitarian value (e.g. , while many have expressed interest in the conflicts between artistically-motivated creatives and financiallymotivated managers (e.g. Eikhof and Haunschild 2007). Despite a vast and varied body of work, it remains unclear what characteristics make industries cultural, which industries belong under the cultural umbrella, and what phenomena are specific to them. The purpose of the present paper is to offer a reconceptualization of cultural industries by tracing their boundaries, their features and the dynamics that follow from these features. Based on this, a framework for future research is presented.Based on a review of 314 cultural industries studies we propose the following definition: Cultural industries are those that produce experience goods with considerable creative elements and aim these at the consumer market via mass distribution. The creative elements consist of stories and styles, and they serve the purposes of entertainment, identity-building and social display. Mass distribution refers to storage and delivery where economies of scale play an important role. On the basis of this definition, the activities belonging under the cultural 3 industries concept include film, music, book and magazine publishing, TV and radio, fashion and video games.There are two features that are specific to cultural...