Conclusion
Until the beginning of the twentieth century, economists were mostly focused on the theory of value and of income distribution whereas studies of firms and industries were conducted within the framework of price theory.
However, the evolution of management techniques led scholars to shift their attention towards the internal organisation of the firm and industrial dynamics. From a theoretical perspective, the separation of the theory of the firm from the theory of value resulted from the Cost Controversy in Cambridge accompanied by a new interpretation of the work of Alfred Marshall.This chapter has shown that Oxford's contribution to industrial economics is not attributable to any specific school of thought that it produced, as could be argued was the case for Cambridge. The lack of emblematic figures at Oxford and/or the relative isolation of successive individuals elected to the Drummond Chair (in particular Edgeworth and Macgregor) did not produce a unified body of knowledge until, perhaps, the innovations made by the OERG which, despite its heterogeneous interests, still paved the way for a more homogenous methodology and theoretical orientation. Hence, although industrial economics today does not resemble the discipline as Philip Andrews knew it, his legacy was to institutionally establish it at Oxford.
Oxford took a unique approach to industrial economics due to the OERG and the empirical analysis of the firm, this a reaction to the theory of imperfect competition popularised at Cambridge in the 1930s. The methodology, in particular the use of questionnaires, was at the time specific to Oxford. The development of industrial economics at Oxford was also strongly influenced by George Richardson and Harald Malmgren who focused on information and knowledge between firms and contributed to a deeper understanding of the organisation of firms.
In this way, they shed light on the emergence of more recent knowledge-based economies. The modern evolutionary theory of the firm is based on the concepts of capabilities and competences as proposed by Richardson and Malmgren which views the firm as a complex and organised set of competences and resources that is continuously faced with uncertainty. Later on, two key players in the development of industrial economics at Oxford were Donald Hay and Derek Morris, whose Industrial Economics: Theory and Evidence served as a foundation for the teaching of the subject and which represented an important manifestation of the direction taken by the discipline at the University.Finally, industrial economics was shaped by the institutions of Oxford itself. The BPhil seminar on industrial economics and the Journal of Industrial Economics, both introduced by Andrews in the 1950s, exemplify the applied orientation of the discipline based on an empirical methodology. Saying this, Andrews' influence did later wane with the rise of industrial organisation based on game theory exported from the United States.