MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE ADAPTABILITY OF THE INDUSTRIAL-STRUCTURE

With the rapid development of new materials in recent decades, materia l adaptability has increasingly come into the focus of innovation theo ry. This article shows that material adaptability has involved special problems for enterprises. This is not least because a shift in materi al technology constitutes a more fundamental intervention in industria l production than other kinds of technological change. On the basis of Danish examples, this article discusses material adaptation processes in industry and barriers to such adaptation. The article attempts to answer two questions. What is the significance of various development strategies for the adaptability of companies to new materials? And wha t lessons can be learned from previous adaptation processes, against t he particular background of the introduction of plastic materials in i ndustrial production? The article discusses the role of materials as s tabilizing and destabilizing factors in the industrial structure, and in this connection the importance of ''learning by doing,'' ''user-pro ducer relations'' and the role of raw material suppliers in the proces s of adaptation to new materials.