Business (economy)

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A business ( English deal , trade ) is an exchange transaction between economic agents , the obtaining or use of income aims.

etymology

The word business comes from the Old High German "gas caft" or "gas caft", which means something like "what is up to you to create". The word used to be more based on "create". In Middle High German , this resulted in “geschefede” and “geschaft” for “creation, shape”. In Yiddish , this resulted in “Gesheft” ( Hebrew געשעפט).

General

All economic subjects ( private households , companies , public households up to the state ) conclude business. From the point of view of private households, however, there is usually no talk of business because they only derive a benefit from it. The other business entities track with a business their commercial goal of maximizing profit (or at least the cost coverage ), so that it with stores at least one contribution achieve. The civil law uses the term business very often (about transaction , abstract business , neutral business ), but without defining it. From a legal point of view, this is behavior aimed at economic success , to which legal consequences are linked according to the legal system .

Transactions consist of at least one flow of payments and flow of goods ( sales contract ), of two flows of payments ( foreign exchange transaction ) or two flows of goods ( exchange transaction ).

species

Business can take place between different economic subjects ( inter-organizational ) as well as within one economic subject ( intra-organizational ). The business relationships between individual economic entities can be broken down as follows:

Economic subject Private households Companies public budgets
Private households Consumer-to-consumer Consumer-to-business Consumer-to-Administration
Companies Business-to-consumer Business-to-business Business-to-Administration
public budgets Administration-to-consumer Administration-to-business Administration-to-administration

Not only the purchase contract , but also long-term obligations such as rental , leasing , leasing or credit agreements come into question as types of business , whereby only the entrepreneurs involved in the contract regard this as a business. These contracts are to be taken into account in their accounting when accounting for a pending transaction if the main contractual obligations have not yet been fulfilled on the balance sheet date .

The subject of transactions can be real goods and nominal goods . The most common business object is the purchase of goods against cash payment , in which a real good ( commodity ) is paid for with a nominal good (cash) . There is also the pure exchange of real goods ( barter trade ) or of nominal goods ( foreign exchange transactions ).

Legal issues

The commercial legal term of the business in § 343 HGB relates to individual commercial activities and business transactions in contrast to the business of the merchant as a whole, which is referred to as a commercial transaction according to § 22 HGB . The concept of business includes not only legal transactions such as contracts and, in particular, sales contracts , but also legal acts of commercial importance. Shops are therefore the reminder ( § 286 BGB ), incoming and outgoing goods , the payment , delivery , notification of defects ( § 377 HGB) or transfer the contract or agency agreement .

The day of trade ( English business day ), the time at which a transaction between business partners validly concluded. It is important for the creation of rights and contractual obligations and for accounting . Are as a rule the case of a business transaction mutual agreed services immediately train to train fallig (as with the contracts of sale of everyday life) in financial contracts and commodities located settlement ( English settlement day ) at least 2 working days from the date of transaction ( cash transaction ) or even much later ( futures , fixed deals , credit ). Due to the delayed fulfillment, fulfillment and credit risks arise for the business partners . In doing business with each other or with consumers, companies agree general terms and conditions under which they are willing to do business. Commercial transactions are the transactions of a merchant that are part of the operation of his commercial trade .

Business in business

From an economic (and also accounting law ) point of view, transactions are to be regarded as those legal relationships that are based on a functional relationship between performance and consideration . Many compound nouns contain “business” as a component. For example, a transaction is to conclude capacity requirement, without which a business ineffective is. Business partners are involved in a business entities / business entities that the transaction in its accounting for post have. An annual report provides the public with information on the success of transactions .

There must be at least two business partners, but several can also be involved in the same business ( consortium , working group ). At least two economic subjects pursue their respective goal of long-term profit or benefit maximization with a business ; hence the requirement that business must be worthwhile. Transactions allow the economic one company deciding whether the use of factors of production to the manufacture of products or services seems worthwhile under certain conditions. In business, companies pursue the goal of maximizing profit, private households the goal of maximizing utility. For Milton Friedman , the main task of companies in profitable business - it's just business at stores ( english The business of business is business ). Every deal is aimed at generating or maximizing profits by observing each decision to see what difference it makes to the company's profit outlook. In 1956 Erich Gutenberg saw in short-term profit maximization the endeavor to "get the maximum profit out of every single business". However, profit maximization is not about maximizing each individual business, but about the highest possible long-term profit. Losing deals are deals that generate a loss but do not necessarily contradict the goal of long-term profit. So it may be advantageous tactically, for the purpose of price competition or customer retention in the short term so-called loss-making bait advertising ( English loss leader to plan), of which customers know that they are normally sold at a higher price. Although they generate losses in the short term, they can, in the long term, help new customers who also buy profitable products.

If business partners close several transactions within a certain period of time , they maintain a business relationship . Transactions with credit institutions are called banking transactions , including in particular credit transactions and deposit transactions . Companies allocate their various businesses to specific business divisions based on their organizational structure . They develop business strategies that are intended to help them develop or refine a business model or focus on the core business .

Demarcation

Transactions are characterized by performance and appropriate consideration. Purely unilateral transfer payments ( gifts , taxes , but also guarantees ) are not considered business transactions. This separates the business from the generic term of the transaction . Business objects are economic objects that change to other economic entities through these transactions.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Ludwig Karl Weigand, Dictionary of German Synonyms , Volume 1, 1852, p. 88
  2. Joseph Kehrein, Onomatisches Dictionary , Volume 2, 1853, p 666
  3. Christian Brandt, From contract management to inter-company communication , 2009, p. 8
  4. ^ Norbert Horn, Commentary on the Commercial Code , Book 4, 2005, § 343 Rn. 8th
  5. Hartmut Friederich, Principles of Proper Accounting for Pending Transactions , 1976, p. 14
  6. Darnell Hilliard, Global Business and Historical Forms of Business , 2010, p. 30
  7. Milton Friedman, The Social Responsibility of Business is to increase its Profits , in: The New York Times, September 13, 1970, p. 32 f.
  8. Darnell Hilliard, Global Enterprises and Historical Forms of Enterprise , 2010, p. 31
  9. Erich Gutenberg, Fundamentals of Business Administration , Volume 2: The paragraph, 1956, p. 7
  10. Fritz Morstein Marx (ed.) / Heinz Ahrens, Verwaltung , 1965, p. 22
  11. ^ Karl Kühne, Functional Competition , 1958, p. 130