Importance Of Business

Businesses
range from one-person enterprises to huge global corporations and from those existing in the
informal barter economy to vast state-owned enterprises. They can be for-profit, with an avowed
purpose of making money for shareholders, or not-for-profit, with the purpose of trying to
improve the world. A teenager earning some spare cash by babysitting or shoveling driveways is
as much a business as a huge oil corporation or a chain of big box retail stores.

The reason businesses are important is that they are a vehicle for the exchange of
goods and services. Especially in complex modern societies, we cannot rely on ourselves and our
families to survive. Farmers raise food, but buy farm equipment, clothing, cell phones, and
other consumer goods. People who work in factories need to buy food and rent or buy houses. We
depend on universities and schools for education and doctors for medical care. Even direct
barter would not fully enable us to exchange all the things we need for modern life.