Previous studies attempting to explain firm performance have primarily dealt with firm behavior from a static perspective and a reductionist standpoint, thereby lacking linkage with the industry—the breeding ground of firm performance—and failing to simultaneously address the dynamic adaptation process between industry evolution and firm behavior, as well as failing to recognize the firm as a whole. Accordingly, this study empirically tested a model of leadership shifts in the global steel industry based on the Corporate Power Theory, which simultaneously considers industry evolution and firm behavior while recognizing the firm as a system. The empirical results showed that in the global steel industry, firms operating in high-growth markets that intensified their focus on core business and pursued innovation by preempting new key technologies (first movers) or following early (early followers) held the strongest industry leadership. Even in low-growth markets, firms that preempted new key technologies, pursued active management innovation, and intensified their core business focus saw improvements in industry leadership. Furthermore, firms that missed the opportunity to preempt or adopt new key technologies early lost industry leadership not only when they reduced their core business but also when they merely maintained it. Finally, an empirical rule was obtained that current-period industry leadership is strongly influenced by prior-period industry leadership. The implications of this empirical analysis are that, academically, it demonstrates that industry leadership is determined by adaptive behavior (strategic moves) in response to market changes and technological changes, showing that the timing of technology selection, efforts to internalize it (innovation moves), and the firm's growth vector moves in response to market changes have a significant impact on changes in industry leadership. Meanwhile, from a practical standpoint, it provides normative guidelines through the industry leadership shift model on desirable strategic moves for enhancing or sustaining industry leadership.