The Austrian "structure-performance paradox" describes the ambiguous observation of high overall economic performance on the one hand, but a considerable lock in to "old" industrial structures on the other. Compared to other high-income countries, Austria is characterised by an almost unique low share of industries, where competitive advantage is mostly driven by technological change. Following the presentation of a new empirical tool useful in structural analysis, this paper will summarise recent empirical results on both aspects of the paradox. Initially, attention will be drawn towards the most relevant policy questions; later some tentative explanations of the paradox will be examined.