Conventions, markets and industry evolution: the example of the wind turbine industry in Germany 1977–2021

Abstract

Abstract Markets are drivers of evolutionary change. They link social norms to the evolution of an industry. The study uses a process tracing approach to identify two mechanisms of this link. The first mechanism describes how different conventions change the construction of markets. The second mechanism describes how the changing principles of evaluation influence the resource construction of firms and thus the life cycle of the industry. The empirical example is the wind turbine industry in Germany from 1977 to 2021. The development of the industry can be divided into different phases shaped by different conventions, each affecting market construction and industry evolution in different ways.