Unpacking the differing understandings of “alcohol industry” in public health research

•The term ‘industry’ can be understood in a variety of ways.•Simple understandings of ‘industry’ miss out on the complexity of relations.•Systemic and social understandings of ‘industry’ provide more opportunities. Use of the term ‘alcohol industry’ plays an important role in discussions of alcohol and public health. In this paper, we examine how the term is currently used and explore the merits of alternative conceptualisations. We start by examining current ways of referring to ‘alcohol industry’ in public health and then explore the potential for organisational theory, political science, and sociology to provide alcohol research with more inclusive and nuanced conceptualizations. We identify, and critique, three conceptualisations based on purely economic understandings of industry: literal, market, and supply-chain understandings. We then examine three alternative conceptualizations based on systemic understandings of industry: organizational, social-network, and common-interest understandings. In examining these alternatives, we also identify the extent to which they open up new ways of approaching the levels at which industry influence is understood to operate in alcohol and public health research and policy. Each of the six understandings of ‘industry’ can play a role in research but their utility depends on the question being asked and the breadth and depth of the analysis being undertaken. However, for those intending to engage with a broader disciplinary base, approaches grounded in the systemic understandings of ‘industry’ are better positioned to study the complex nexus of relationships that contribute to alcohol industry influence.