Technological Paradigms and Economic Theories of the Firm

The structure of the world industry is constantly affected by technological innovations and by an institutional dynamics which destroy and create firms and markets. Historically, the increasing speed of these changes has demanded a continuous reformulation of the economic theories dealing with the firm. This article examines such theories under the analytical framework of technological change in three paradigms: (i) the British industrial revolution which dominated the world economy during the XIX century and was a starting point to the development of the neoclassical microeconomic theory; (ii) the fordist paradigm which gave rise to the industrial economics; and (iii) the information technology paradigm, in which theories are still under development, based mainly on evolutionist and neo-institutionalist frameworks. The analysis of the evolution of the theory of the firm and its relationships with different organizational paradigms shows that theories are based by different methodological affiliations, focus on different aspects (production or transactions) and are based on a diversity of institutional, sectorial and historical contexts.