Business

The word business is used in different contexts. It is used to describe an economic process and to describe entities that participate in that process.

Definitions: Business

Business is an economic system where goods and services are exchanged for one another or for money.

There is no single definition of a business. Some possible definitions include the following.
Definitions: A business entity

1. A business entity is a commercial organization that aims to make a profit from its operations.
2. An integrated set of activities and assets that is capable of being conducted and managed for the purpose of providing a return to investors or other owners.
3. An organization or enterprising entity engaged in commercial, industrial or professional activities. 

Characteristics of business
All businesses share certain characteristics.
 Businesses exist to make profits.
 Businesses make profit by supplying goods or services to others (customers).
 Businesses that supply goods might make those goods or buy them from other parties (for example, food retailers buy food off food producers and sell it to their customers).
 Profit is the reward for accepting risk. For example, a food retailer might buy 100 kgs of bananas but might not be able to sell them all. In other words, he runs the risk of paying for bananas that he will have to throw away. He is willing to run the risk because if he does not buy bananas he has no chance of selling them for a profit.
 The profit of a business belongs to its owners. A share of the profits might be paid to the owners periodically.