This book examines the role of competence, organization and strategies of firms in industrial dynamics linking economic, management and historical perspectives. In the first part of the book, a series of economic and managerial contributions discuss the concepts, dimensions and effects of routines, competence, adaptation, learning, organizational structure and strategies in the evolution of industrial enterprises at the theoretical and empirical levels. In the second part of the book, a series of historical papers examine these issues in a longterm perspective for the United States, Japan and several European countries.