A business, also known as an enterprise or a firm, is an organization involved in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers.^[1] Businesses are prevalent in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and provide goods and services to customers in exchange of other goods, services, or money. Businesses may also be not-for-profit or state-owned. A business owned by multiple individuals may be referred to as a company.

The etymology of “business” stems from the idea of being busy, and implies socially valuable and rewarding work. A business can mean a particular organization or a more generalized usage refers to an entire market sector, i.e. “the music business”. Compound forms such as agribusiness represent subsets of the word’s broader meaning, which encompasses all the activity by all the suppliers of goods and services.