A business (also known as enterprise or firm) is an organization engaged in the
trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in
capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to
earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be
not-for-profit or state-owned. A business owned by multiple individuals may be
referred to as a company, although that term
also has a more precise meaning.
The etymology of "business" relates to the state of being busy either as an
individual or society as a whole, doing commercially viable and profitable work.
The term "business" has at least three usages, depending on the scope — the
singular usage to mean a particular organization; the generalized usage to refer
to a particular market sector, "the music business" and compound forms such as
agribusiness; and the broadest meaning, which encompasses all activity by the
community of suppliers of goods and services. However, the exact definition of
business, like much else in the philosophy of business, is a matter of debate
and complexity of meanings. |