Industry evolution: Evidence from the Italian brewing industry

Abstract

This paper provides historical evidence about structural change in the Italian brewing industry. After the WWII, the industry gradually became highly concentrated, dominated by multinationals. In the late 1980s, a new wave of entrants, i.e. craft breweries, revolutionized the industry. This paper discusses the causes of rising of concentration and the successive advent of the craft breweries. In the discussion, we highlight how the evolution of the brewing industry conforms to the predictions of the industry life cycle and resource-partitioning models. Various factors played a key role in rising concentration and successive late-stage entries although some of these have been disregarded in the economic literature on industry evolution. The findings and analysis provides important insights and help advance our understanding of the current and future competition and business strategies in this industry.