Interfirm Relations in an Enterprise Group

What is a business enterprise ? Though seemingly simple, in reality this is a very difficult question to answer. When we examine a group of business enterprises such as the Mitsubishi Group, an important issue is how to look at enterprises, the members of said group. A currently popular approach in management science tries to unravel a firm by examining its internal organization. However, there may be an alternative approach, in which one illuminates the essence of an enterprise by examining its relations with other enterprises. Just as contact between communities determines communities' characters, relations between firms may reveal the true nature of firms.