How Industries are Born, Grow, Revitalize with Jagdish Sheth

Overview

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Most theories about industry evolution focus on disruption and decline — but industries rarely die. They transform. This course offers a broader, more nuanced framework for understanding how industries are born, how they grow, and how they revitalize through the constant tension between efficiency and growth. Learners will explore why industries are more often created by creative duplication and government policy than by breakthrough invention, and how mature industries organize themselves into a predictable structure of volume-driven generalists and margin-driven specialists — captured in the powerful Rule of Three framework. Through examples spanning ride-sharing, cell phones, retail, and beyond, this course gives learners the tools to read industry structure, anticipate competitive dynamics, and identify opportunities for growth and revitalization at any stage of an industry's life cycle.

Syllabus

How Industries Really Emerge

Part 1 challenges conventional wisdom about how industries are created, arguing that most new industries emerge not from breakthrough inventions but from creative duplication, government policy, and exceptional execution. Learners will explore the key forces that drive industry formation and why the supply side, rather than consumer demand, is most often the catalyst for a new industry's birth.

Mature Industries and the Rule of Three Framework

Part 2 examines how mature industries organize themselves into a predictable competitive structure of volume-driven generalists and margin-driven specialists, illustrated through the Rule of Three framework. Learners will explore how industries balance oligopoly and monopolistic competition — and how understanding this structure reveals opportunities for growth, mergers, and long-term strategic positioning.