Abstract

This paper analyses the theoretical relationship between business economics and industrial organization. It focuses on the paradigmatic approaches (neoclassical, structuralist, strategic, institutional and evolutionary) that have influenced the cultural division and contamination between these two different branches of economic and firm analysis. The reciprocal influence is particularly evident in the development of strategic and institutional paradigms, with their attention to the firm behaviour and organizational settings, although with important and persistent methodological differences (for instance, game theory vs. business strategic history). With the evolutionary paradigm, the possible theoretical integration between business economics and industrial organization is growing, both in international and national literature. It contributes to a renewal in the theory of the firm and to explore new possible research agenda between industrial and business economists.