Living Systems Theory

from the Perspective of Competitive Advantage

by
Edwin B. Dean

Living Systems Theory (LST) was defined by James Grier Miller. It uses twenty elemental subsystems to define all living systems at the cell, organ, organism, group, organization, society, and supranational system levels. Nineteen of these subsystems were introduced by Miller over a period of and are described in Miller (1978). The twentieth, the timer, was introduced by Jessie Miller in Miller (1990).

This concept is extremely important for competitive advantage since competitive advantage is concerned with the organism, group, organization, society, and supranational system levels.

The twenty subsystems generate a natural relationship between LST and design.

References

• Miller, J. G. (1978). Living Systems, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, NY, USA.
• Miller, J. L. (1990). "The Timer," Behavioral Science, Vol. 35, pp. 164-196.

Bibliographies

Living Systems Theory Bibliography

Societies

International Society for the Systems Sciences

Surfing the Web

Table of Contents | System Technologies | Use