The concept of routines twenty years after Nelson and Winter (1982) A review of the literature

Twenty years have passed since Nelson and Winter (1982) proposed routines as the unit of analysis of an evolutionary theory of economic change. Since then, the concept of routines has been taken up widely in the economics and business literature. Many ambiguities and open questions still persist, however. The article presents a review of the literature on routines (mainly) since 1982, focussing on the questions 'What progress has been made in understanding what routines are', and 'what are their roles in organisations and in the economy?'