The authors thank all of the managers who gave freely of their time in helping to complete this study. Ian Watson was particularly helpful. Thanks also go to Peter Grinyer of St. Andrews Management Institute, Roy Payne, Tony Berry, Pam Lewis, and to Manchester Business School. This research was partially funded by an Economic and Social Research Council grant to the Manchester Business School and by a grant from the Hewlitt Foundation to the first author. In this paper we argue that market boundaries are socially constructed around a collective cognitive model that summarizes typical organizational forms within an industry. This model is produced when firms observe each other's actions and define unique product positions in relation to each other. Our study examines the question of how firms define a reference group of rivals when market cues are ambiguous and interorganizational variety is high and identifies the industry model underlying rivalry among Scottish knitwear producers. The data suggest that a six-category model of organizational forms best describes the common sense of competition in the industry and that an ensemble of attributes involving size, technology, product style, and geographic location forms the foundation for this ordering. The results also show how this industry model is reproduced within the rivalry network structuring imperfect competition in the industry.'
We examine the importance of industry to firm-level financial and real decisions. We find that in addition to standard industry fixed effects, financial structure also depends on a firm's position within its industry. In competitive industries, a firm's financial leverage depends on its natural hedge (its proximity to the median industry capital--labor ratio), the actions of other firms in the industry, and its status as entrant, incumbent, or exiting firm. Financial leverage is higher and less dispersed in concentrated industries, where strategic debt interactions are also stronger, but a firm's natural hedge is not significant. Our results show that financial structure, technology, and risk are jointly determined within industries. These findings are consistent with recent industry equilibrium models of financial structure. Copyright 2005, Oxford University Press.
Amylases are one of the main enzymes used in industry. Such enzymes hydrolyze the starch molecules into polymers composed of glucose units. Amylases have potential application in a wide number of industrial processes such as food, fermentation and pharmaceutical industries. α-Amylases can be obtained from plants, animals and microorganisms. However, enzymes from fungal and bacterial sources have dominated applications in industrial sectors. The production of α-amylase is essential for conversion of starches into oligosaccharides. Starch is an important constituent of the human diet and is a major storage product of many economically important crops such as wheat, rice, maize, tapioca, and potato. Starch-converting enzymes are used in the production of maltodextrin, modified starches, or glucose and fructose syrups. A large number of microbial α-amylases has applications in different industrial sectors such as food, textile, paper and detergent industries. The production of α-amylases has generally been carried out using submerged fermentation, but solid state fermentation systems appear as a promising technology. The properties of each α-amylase such as thermostability, pH profile, pH stability, and Ca-independency are important in the development of fermentation process. This review focuses on the production of bacterial and fungal α-amylases, their distribution, structural-functional aspects, physical and chemical parameters, and the use of these enzymes in industrial applications.