Generally speaking, an enterprise refers to a legal person or other social and economic organization that uses various factors of production (land, labor, capital, technology and entrepreneurial talents) to provide goods or services to the market in order to obtain profits, and implements independent operation, self-financing and independent accounting.
Enterprises aim at maximizing the interests of investors, customers, employees and the public, and exchange products or services for income. It is the product of social development, and has grown stronger with the development of social division of labor, and it is the main participant in market economic activities.
The basic content of 1
Significance development
The word "enterprise" in modern Chinese comes from Japanese. Like some other basic words commonly used in social sciences, they were translated from Japanese in the process of introducing western culture and systems on a large scale after the Meiji Restoration in Japan, and after the Reform Movement of 1898, these Chinese words were introduced into modern Chinese in large quantities from Japanese. (Related to and similar to the usage of the word enterprise, there is also the word "business". )
During the planned economy period in Chinese mainland, "enterprise" was a common word used side by side with "institution". In the 1979 edition of Cihai, "enterprise" is defined as "an independent accounting economic unit engaged in production, circulation or service activities"; The definition of "institution" is: "a unit that is led by a state organ and does not conduct economic accounting".
In the late 20th century, under the background of Chinese mainland's reform, opening up and modernization, new concepts in the field of information technology poured in, and the meaning of the word "enterprise" changed. On the one hand, a large number of "enterprises" have emerged under the planned economy system; On the other hand, in some new concepts, its meaning is not limited to commercial or profit-making organizations, and this usage mainly comes from the translation of the English word "enterprise". Therefore, at present, the word "enterprise" has two different uses in public media:
The common usage of enterprises refers to various independent and profit-making organizations (which may or may not be legal persons), and can be further divided into corporate enterprises and non-corporate enterprises, the latter such as partnership enterprises, sole proprietorship enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households.