Please forgive me as I dust off a cliché from the 1990s business press - the Business Ecosystem - which, despite its overuse, really is a good concept that can be effective when appropriately applied. Dictionary.com defines an ecosystem as 'An ecological community, together with its environment, functioning as a unit.' Porting this concept to business, you get something like: 'A community of businesses functioning together in a common operating environment to solve customers' problems.'