The Structure of European Industry is a collection of essays on the
economic organization of industrial sectors in Europe, which may serve
either of policy makers in business and in Government; and staff and
students at Universities. The first group increasingly needs a focus on
the longer-term developments of European industry, now that the positive
(growth) effects of the economic integration of the sixties have worn
off. Restructuring is the current catch word and nobody can deny the
necessity and urgency of the task. But it has become a day-to-day affair
and there may be a loss of perspective. The second group is growing up
in an international environment and should be equipped accordingly.
Many-faceted tasks are involved with serving either depending on the
problems which differ according to industries. And here the bewildering
complexity of the European industrial scenery strikes. Some of these
industries are old fashioned; some are new; some are national in
orientation; some have become integrated; some have a competitive
structure; some are cartellized or heavily concentrated; some have been
interfered with by national Governments, others were free from such
policing; etc. Moreover, a number of industries show various
combinations of these and other facets at the same time.