Industry-wide Belief Structures and Strategic Behaviour The Swedish Pulp and Paper Industry 1945-1980

The link between collective belief structures and strategic behaviour has been the focus of extensive research in several disciplines. Few, however, have studied the phenomenon using an entire industry as a unit of analysis. In the following paper the debate on the shortage of wood in the Swedish pulp and paper industry (P & P industry) during 1945-1980 is used to further our knowledge of this link. The result is that further understanding of the link between industry-wide belief structures and strategic behaviour requires more knowledge of the industry-wide belief structure as such, the nature of the debate in which this belief structure is produced and reproduced as well as arguments and justifications of strategic behaviour. Suggestions of how to analyse these aspects are provided in the paper.