Trends on the conception of competitiveness and modern industrial policy: The emergent field of a new synthesis

The concept of competitiveness and the practice of industrial policy seem to acquire a repositioned meaning and new interest today. We explore how the concept of competitiveness is changing shape and scope and what is the focus of industrial policy both historically and recently in the effort of finding their theoretical convergences and divergences. The findings suggest a move towards an industrial policy that is systemic and integrated since it focuses on enhancing the multilevel competitiveness of the socio-economic system in a unified micro-meso-macro approach. A counter-proposed analysis of the “competitiveness web,” which perceives at the centre of the system the evolutionary micro-dynamics of the firm surrounded by co-evolving meso-dynamics and macro-economic and macro-social environments, enhances our understanding towards an “organic” industrial policy that focuses on strengthening the multi-level competitiveness.