INDUSTRY: A group of firms producing goods or services that are close substitutes-in-consumption. The similarity of the products makes it possible to analyze the production in a market framework. An industry can be broadly defined, such as the manufacturing industry, or narrowly specified, such as the root beer industry. For most economic analysis the term industry is used interchangeably with the term market.

     See also | business | firm | company | enterprise | legal business organizations | ownership liability | business objectives | profit maximization | natural selection | plant | factory | market | market demand | market supply | competition | production | production cost | supply | entrepreneurship | microeconomics | private sector | business sector | substitute-in-consumption | cross elasticity of demand | second estate |