REPRÉSENTATIONS ET DYNAMIQUE SECTORIELLE. CADRE D'ANALYSE ET APPLICATION AU SECTEUR DE LA DISTRIBUTION/REPRESENTATIONS AND SECTORAL DYNAMICS. FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS AND APPLICATION TO THE DISTRIBUTION SECTOR

Following an institutionalist and evolutionary approach, this paper points out how representations and mental maps of managers influence the functioning and the dynamics of industries. The subjectivity of representations is a consequence of the uncertainty and the bounded rationality of agents. At the industry level, several mechanisms contribute to the homogenization of individual representations due to a sectorial culture, whose inertia is likely to weaken the collective ability to adapt to changes in the environment. This framework is applied to the retail sector, notably trough the results of a survey of professionals aiming at gathering their views on the future of the industry.