Business
hideA business (also called a firm or an enterprise) is a legally recognized organization designed to provide goods and/or services to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, most being privately owned and formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners and grow the business itself. The owners and operators of a business have as one of their main objectives the receipt or generation of a financial return in exchange for work and acceptance of risk. Notable exceptions include cooperative enterprises and state-owned enterprises. Socialist systems involve either government agencies, public ownership, state-ownership or direct worker ownership of enterprises and assets that would be run as businesses in a capitalist economy. The distinction between these institutions and a business is that socialist institutions often have alternative or additional goals aside from maximizing or turning a profit.
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 (above) to mean a particular company or corporation, the generalized usage to refer to a particular market sector, such as "the music business" and compound forms such as agribusiness, or the broadest meaning to include 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.
Business Studies, the study of the management of individuals to maintain collective productivity to accomplish particular creative and productive goals (usually to generate profit), is taught as an academic subject in many schools.
For more information about Business, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with business
News Corp, Microsoft hold talks on Google: report
Nov 23, 2009 |
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Microsoft has held talks with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp over a possible plan for the software giant to pay the media company to remove its news websites from Google, a report said Monday.
MySpace in talks to buy imeem
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Online social hub MySpace is in talks to acquire struggling free music streaming site imeem, two people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
4 in 10 US families lack money for essential household expenses when unemployed
Nov 17, 2009 |
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Today the Institute on Assets and Social Policy (IASP) at Brandeis University's Heller School released a new research and policy brief which reports that four in ten U.S. families lack sufficient assets to pay for essential ...
British town to offer free wi-fi to all residents
Nov 17, 2009 |
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Swindon has become the first place in Britain to offer free wireless Internet access to all its 186,000 residents, in what is thought to be the first such scheme, officials said on Tuesday.
There's no business like Grid business (w/ Video)
Technology / Computer Sciences
Nov 17, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have embraced the Grid, but businesses have held back, concerned about complexity and security. Now a European research team has built a platform opening the Grid's vast resources ...
The evolving manager stereotype: Gender a factor in measuring a team's performance
Nov 16, 2009 |
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Although women have made strides in the business world, they still occupy less than two percent of CEO leadership positions in the Fortune 500. Not surprisingly therefore leaders still tend to be thought of as men and most ...
All eyes on Murdoch as newspapers ponder digital future
Nov 15, 2009 |
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Is Rupert Murdoch bluffing? Making a bold high-stakes gamble that will save the troubled newspaper industry? Or pursuing a pipe dream that can only end in failure?
Software cos. eye key patent case in Supreme Court
Nov 08, 2009 |
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(AP) -- With the technology industry looking on, the Supreme Court on Monday will explore what types of inventions should be eligible for a patent in a pivotal case that could undermine such legal protections ...
Online collaboration with built-in clarity
Nov 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Software packages that interoperate while providing online users with an overview of their colleagues' work may finally threaten the dominance of email as the world's premier collaboration ...
A growing PayPal could soon overshadow parent eBay
Nov 04, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Most people know eBay Inc. for its online marketplace, where deals abound on everything from gadgets to antique furniture. But soon, eBay's biggest business will likely be PayPal, the online payments ...
Humana 3Q profit jumps on government programs
Nov 02, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Health insurer Humana Inc. rode its strong government business in posting a 65 percent jump in third-quarter profit Monday, as bulging membership and premiums from Medicare Advantage overcame a lackluster ...
Social media require 'Community Relations 2.0'
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Oct 30, 2009 |
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The rise of social media and real-time advocacy have re-written the community outreach rules companies followed for decades. But many American firms are dragging their feet as they approach "Community Relations 2.0," Boston ...
Motorola's shares surge with unexpected profit (Update)
Oct 29, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The turnaround effort long sought at Motorola Inc. finally could be on track.
Gossip in the workplace: A weapon or gift
Other Sciences / Social Sciences
Oct 28, 2009 |
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Gossip in the workplace can be a weapon in reputational warfare or a gift and can offer clues to power and influence not found on organizational charts. New research from Indiana University details how the ...
Cisco to buy ScanSafe for $183 million
Oct 27, 2009 |
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Cisco announced on Tuesday it has agreed to buy Web security company ScanSafe for some 183 million dollars, the latest in a string of acquisitions by the US networking giant.
