California Management Review

Abstract

Sociologists, psychologists, economists, mathematicians, all view the firm in different lights. Some think of it as a blind organism, bent on. survival at all costs. Others treat it as a rational being impelled solely by the desire to make a profit. Mathematicians chart its vagaries in terms of gaming theory and automationists look on it as a decision making machine. Sociologists analyze its group relationships and dynamics. All of which may prove, as this survey article indicates, that there is no universal definition for so complex a thing, and today s businessmen, seeking one, had best examine all such concepts with open eyes and an open mind.

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