Productivity, Technology and Efficiency in the U.S Commercial Airline Industry

Empirical industry studies too often fall into one of two categories. They may be rich in institutional information and lack generalizability, or heavy in measurement technique, and weak in relevance because little institutional information informs the generalizations. The organization of the professional literature contributes somewhat to the problem in two ways: the general preference for theoretical papers, and the tendencies for journals to specialize in quantitative or qualitative exposition. A mixed paper may well be redirected to an outlet of the “other” type by these journals. The journals that stress quantitative analysis tend to prefer short papers, and have little tolerance for discussion of institutional effects, while the more institutional journals discourage the elaborate quantitative models that may be required to adjust for institutional realities. The quantitative-institutional war should be resolvable by the observation that the technological environment of an enterprise or industry is part of its institutional setting, and that complex industries and technologies cannot be understood in abstraction from the quantitative effects of its institutions on performance. However, academic institutions and practice seem often to be divided along similar lines, so that the relevance of industry studies for technology management is less than it could be.