A sampled-data composite system given by a set of vector difference equations
![x_{i}(\\tau + 1) - x_{i}(\\tau ) = \\sum \\min{j = 1} \\max {n} A_{ij} f_{j}[x_{j}(\\tau )], i = 1 ..., n](/images/tex/5613.gif)
is dealt with. The system given by
![x_{i}(\\tau + 1) - x_{i}(\\tau ) = A_{ij} f_{i}[x_{i}(\\tau )]](/images/tex/5614.gif)
is referred to as the

th isolated subsystem. It is shown that the composite system is asymptotically stable in the large if the f
isatisfy certain conditions and the leading principal minors of the determinant

are all positive. Here, the diagonal element b
iiis a positive number such that
![|x_{i}(\\tau + 1)| - |x_{i}(\\tau ) | \\leq - b_{ij}| f_{i}[x_{i}(\\tau )]|](/images/tex/5616.gif)
holds with regard to the motion of the

th isolated subsystem, and the nondiagonal element

, is the minus of

, which is defined as the maximum of

, for

. Some extensions of this result are also given. Composite relay controlled systems are studied as examples.