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Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit."

A business entity is not necessarily separate from the owner and the creditors can hold the owner liable for debts the business has acquired. The taxation system for businesses is different from that of the corporates. A business structure does not allow for corporate tax rates. The proprietor is personally taxed on all income from the business.

A distinction is made in law and public offices between the term business and a company such as a corporation or cooperative. Colloquially, the terms are used interchangeably. (Full article...)

Economics (/ˌɛkəˈnɒmɪks, ˌiːkə-/) is a social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyses what is viewed as basic elements in the economy, including individual agents and markets, their interactions, and the outcomes of interactions. Individual agents may include, for example, households, firms, buyers, and sellers. Macroeconomics analyses the economy as a system where production, distribution, consumption, savings, and investment expenditure interact, and factors affecting it: factors of production, such as labour, capital, land, and enterprise, inflation, economic growth, and public policies that have impact on these elements. (Full article...)

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Coffee wars, sometimes referred to as caffeine wars, involve a variety of sales and marketing tactics by coffeehouse chains and espresso machine manufacturers to increase brand and consumer market share. In North America belligerents in these wars typically include large coffeehouses, such as Starbucks, Dunkin', McDonald's, and Tim Hortons. According to The Economist, the largest coffee war of the late 2000s was between Starbucks and McDonalds in the United States. The U.S. market has, since the early 2010s, been primarily contested by its two largest players, Starbucks and Dunkin'. Since 2020, competition over the Chinese coffee market has intensified between Starbucks and Luckin Coffee.

Periods of low economic activity and business recessions––which contribute to diminished consumer demand––have been linked to an increase in coffee wars. Major innovations in the coffee industry, particularly the advent of single-serve espresso pods, have lowered the market's barrier to entry. Although store count has been traditionally seen as gauging market share, both firms and analysts have incorporated revenue, balance sheets, organic growth, operating margin, and stock market performance as comparable indicators.

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A trade fair (trade show, trade exhibition or expo) is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products, service, study activities of rivals and examine recent market trends and opportunities. In contrast to consumer fairs, only some trade fairs are open to the public, while others can only be attended by company representatives (members of the trade, e.g. professionals) and members of the press, therefore trade shows are classified as either "Public" or "Trade Only". A few fairs are hybrids of the two; one example is the Frankfurt Book Fair, which is trade-only for its first three days and open to the general public on its final two days. They are held on a continuing basis in virtually all markets and normally attract companies from around the globe. For example, in the U.S. there are currently over 10,000 trade shows held every year, and several online directories have been established to help organizers, attendees, and marketers identify appropriate events.

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Auckland's central business district at night

The economy of New Zealand is a highly developed free-market economy. It is the 52nd-largest national economy in the world when measured by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) and the 62nd-largest in the world when measured by purchasing power parity (PPP). New Zealand has one of the most globalised economies and depends greatly on international trade, mainly with China, Australia, the European Union, the United States, and Japan. New Zealand's 1983 Closer Economic Relations agreement with Australia means that the economy aligns closely with that of Australia. Among OECD nations, New Zealand has a highly efficient and strong social security system; social expenditure stood at roughly 21.5% of GDP.

New Zealand's diverse economy is made up of various types of informal and formal organisations, divided between two sectors, public and private. It has a sizeable service sector, accounting for 63% of all GDP activity . As a large island nation New Zealand has abundant natural resources and mineral wealth. Prominent manufacturing industries include aluminium production, food processing, metal fabrication, wood and paper products. Mining, manufacturing, electricity, gas, water, and waste services accounted for 16.5% of GDP . The primary sector continues to dominate New Zealand's exports, despite accounting for only 6.5% of GDP . The information technology sector is growing rapidly. (Full article...)

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" My dear Bowley,

I have not been able to lay my hands on any notes as to Mathematico-economics that would be of any use to you: and I have very indistinct memories of what I used to think on the subject. I never read mathematics now: in fact I have forgotten even how to integrate a good many things.

But I know I had a growing feeling in the later years of my work at the subject that a good mathematical theorem dealing with economic hypotheses was very unlikely to be good economics: and I went more and more on the rules---(1) Use mathematics as a short-hand language, rather than as an engine of inquiry. (2) Keep to them till you have done. (3) Translate into English. (4) Then illustrate by examples that are important in real life. (5) Burn the mathematics. (6) If you can't succeed in 4, burn 3. This last I did often.

I believe in Newton's Principia Methods, because they carry so much of the ordinary mind with them. Mathematics used in a Fellowship thesis by a man who is not a mathematician by nature---and I have come across a good deal of that---seems to me an unmixed evil. And I think you should do all you can to prevent people from using Mathematics in cases in which the English language is as short as the Mathematical. ....

I find mathematicians almost invariably follow what I regard as Jevons' one great analytical mistake, his eulogy of the Geometric mean in general: and do not see that, according to his use, erroneous weighting may do far more mischief with the Geometric Mean than with the Arithmetic Mean. I always have to spend some time in convincing them of the danger.

Your emptyhandedly,"

—Alfred Marshall, Letter to A. L. Bowley, 1906

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... that while oil and gas production is a large part of Turkmenistan's economy, there are only two oil refineries in Turkmenistan?
... that Dolly Johnson, who had once been a slave of 17th U.S. president Andrew Johnson, opened her own bakery business in 1881?
... that New Zealand politician Hamish Campbell is a cancer researcher and runs a flower-delivery business?
... that the Lebon Patisserie & Café in Istanbul closed in 2022, after 212 years of business, due to the high increase of monthly rent?
... that the economy of Reineh, now in northern Israel, was so strong in the Mamluk era that they could afford imported pottery from Syria and Italy?
... that in 1990, Simon Rimmer bought an existing vegetarian restaurant with his business partner and taught himself to cook – in that order?

On this day in business history

June 6:

1941 - Louis Chevrolet, a Swiss-American race car driver and businessman, founder of Chevrolet and Frontenac Motor Corporation, died on this day.

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General images

The following are images from various business-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Lindley LJ was the leading expert on partnerships and company law in the Salomon v. Salomon & Co. case. The landmark case confirmed the distinct corporate identity of the company. (from Corporation)
Image 2Plaque in London commemorating Jewish entrepreneur Sir Jack Cohen who in 1919 founded Tesco, the largest supermarket chain in the UK. (from Entrepreneurship)
Image 3In 2012, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer greets participants in an African Women's Entrepreneurship Program at the State Department in Washington, D.C. (from Entrepreneurship)
Image 4McDonald's Corporation is one of the most recognizable corporations in the world. (from Corporation)
Image 5Chart of the South Sea Company's stock prices. The rapid inflation of the stock value in the 1710s led to the Bubble Act 1720, which restricted the establishment of companies without a royal charter. (from Corporation)
Image 6Time required to start a business in 2017 (from Business)
Image 7Emil Jellinek-Mercedes (1853–1918), here at the steering wheel of his Phoenix Double-Phaeton (from Entrepreneurship)
Image 8Mexican Stock Exchange in Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City (from Business)
Image 91/8 share of the Stora Kopparberg mine, dated June 16, 1288 (from Corporation)
Image 10Student organizers from the Green Club at Newcomb College Institute formed a social entrepreneurship organization in 2010. (from Entrepreneurship)
Image 11Offices in the Los Angeles Downtown Financial District (from Business)
Image 12Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network event in New York City (from Entrepreneurship)
Image 13"Jack and the Giant Joint-Stock", a cartoon in Town Talk (1858) satirizing the 'monster' joint-stock economy that came into being after the Joint Stock Companies Act 1844 (from Corporation)

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More did you know

...that in the United States of America the largest reserve requirement for commercial banks is 10% of liabilities?

...that the United States Federal Reserve System uses six monetary aggregates as components of the money supply?

...that an open market operation is an activity by a central bank to buy or sell government bonds on the open market?

...that, although nominal USA national debt has been steadily increasing since 1940, Debt-to-GDP ratio was actually higher during WWII than it is now?

... that the United States debt ceiling has been steadily raised since 1981?

... the Federal Reserve owns the largest share of the USA national debt?

...the term petrodollars was coined by Ibrahim Oweiss to describe dollars that did not circulate inside the United States, and therefore were not part of the normal money supply, and instead were received by petroleum exporting countries (OPEC) in exchange for oil?

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