Introduction

This study aims to analyze the relationship between the firm, traditionally a micro unit of economic studies, and the meso and macroeconomic contexts to which it consistently relates, with particular reference to industries and markets. As an initial approximation, we define the industry as all companies that produce goods that are similar (delimitation based on supply) or substitutable among them (delimitation based on demand). Markets will be defined as the places of exchange where the company acquires the factors of production (labor market, supply of raw materials, services and technology market, and financial market) or sells its products/services (distribution and consumer market). As a matter of fact in phenomenal reality, the relationships between the company, sector, and markets are quite complex, presenting themselves in ways that are ambiguous, often nuanced, almost always fluid, and continuously changing. Therefore we felt the need to study micro, meso, and macroeconomic relations within a context called the Economics of Complexity. This expression is intended to jointly consider an objective modification of the objects of study and a change in the method of analysis, a different epistemological approach in dealing with research topics. Complexity is a transversal methodological instance: theories on complexity have developed in parallel and independently within multiple disciplinary domains of contemporary scientific research.