Business

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A 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


Business professor says lessons on ethics, character can prevent unethical behavior in the workplace

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

created Dec 08, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

A Kansas State University professor's research is showing a gap between the character traits that business students say make a good executive and the traits they describe having themselves.





Search results for business


Comcast: No plans to sell fourth-place NBC network

Technology / Business

created Dec 07, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- Comcast executives say they have no plans to sell NBC Universal's broadcast TV business when they take control of the company.


Google QR codes to appear in a store window near you

Google QR codes to appear in a store window near you (w/ Video)

Technology / Internet

created Dec 08, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Google recently sent out 100,000 stickers to selected US businesses for use on their storefront windows. The stickers have the Google Maps logo and a QR code that can be scanned by smart phone ...


Space technology optimises windmill efficiency

Space technology optimises windmill efficiency

Technology / Engineering

created Dec 07, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A French start-up company from ESA's Business Incubation Centre in the Netherlands has developed a small instrument to measure wind speed and direction from the ground up to heights of 200 ...


Sony CEO Howard Stringer speaks to reporters

Sony to enter car battery market: Stringer

Technology / Energy

created Dec 03, 2009 | popularity 3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Sony Corp. will tap the rechargeable car battery market amid a growing focus on electric cars and green auto technology, chief executive Howard Stringer said Thursday.


Drug industry embraces new business strategies after tough year

Drug industry embraces new business strategies after tough year

Chemistry / Other

created 8 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

As they pop the champagne corks to celebrate New Year's Eve, drug industry executives will likely be glad to put 2009 behind them. That's because pharmaceutical companies who make top-selling drugs for heart ...


In search of the root causes of the 2008 crisis: New York Fed to hear new theory on financial meltdown

Other Sciences / Economics

created Dec 07, 2009 | popularity 2.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Anjan Thakor, finance professor at the Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, will present a new theory on the causes of the financial crisis to a meeting of the New York Federal Reserve ...


Whitman says eBay didn't misuse Craigslist data (AP)

Whitman says eBay didn't misuse Craigslist data

Technology / Internet

created Dec 07, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman said Monday she was unaware of any attempt by the Internet marketplace to misuse confidential data from Craigslist to help eBay develop a competing online classifieds business.


AOL finalized its divorce from Time Warner

AOL going public after Time Warner divorce

Technology / Business

created 7 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

AOL finalized its divorce from Time Warner on Wednesday, ending one of the most disastrous marriages in corporate history and leaving the Internet pioneer facing an uncertain future.


Emotions an overlooked key to whistle-blowing, study says

Other Sciences / Economics

created Dec 07, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

A gut-level connection with workers may be the key to encouraging whistle-blowing that could chip away at an estimated $652 billion lost to fraud annually by U.S. businesses, an ongoing University of Illinois study suggests.


Imeem launched in San Francisco in 2003 and became a popular online locale for streaming and sharing music for free

MySpace buys imeem music site for under $1 mln

Technology / Internet

created Dec 08, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- MySpace's online music venture with recording labels completed its purchase of song streaming site imeem on Tuesday, scooping up its 16 million users and mobile phone applications for less than $1 ...



List of search results for business