​From 1990 through 2010, the Foundation committed nearly $100 million  to spur high-quality, innovative, empirically-based research on the function and structure of particular industries.  Grantmaking took a variety of forms, including the support of multi-disciplinary research centers devoted to the study of particular industries; conferences and workshops; funds for fieldwork, data collection, and analysis; a working paper series; fellowships for early-career researchers in the field, and a series of annual prizes for the best dissertation, paper, and scholarly book on a relevant industry-studies-related topic. 

A final Foundation grant supported the creation of the Industry Studies Association, a professional membership association that continues to serve the community of industry studies researchers and serves as a lasting legacy of the Foundation's contributions to the development of the field.

Foundation support for the Industry Studies program concluded in 2010.