Business From Wikipedia,
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.
Although forms of business ownership vary by jurisdiction, there are several
common forms:
Sole proprietorship: A sole proprietorship is a for-profit business owned
by one person. The owner may operate on his or her own or may employ others.
The owner of the business has unlimited liability for the debts incurred by
the business.
Partnership: A partnership is a for-profit business owned by two or more people.
In most forms of partnerships, each partner has unlimited liability for the
debts incurred by the business. The three typical classifications of partnerships
are general partnerships, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships.
Corporation: A corporation is a limited liability business that has a separate
legal personality from its members. Corporations can be either government-owned
or privately-owned, and privately-owned corporations can organize either for-profit
or not-for-profit. A for-profit corporation is owned by shareholders who elect
a board of directors to direct the corporation and hire its managerial staff.
A for-profit corporation can be either privately held or publicly held.
Cooperative: Often referred to as a "co-op", a cooperative is a limited
liability business that can organize for-profit or not-for-profit. A cooperative
differs from a for-profit corporation in that it has members, as opposed to
shareholders, who share decision-making authority. Cooperatives are typically
classified as either consumer cooperatives or worker cooperatives. Cooperatives
are fundamental to the ideology of economic democracy.
