Business history and description

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The history of business goes back to ancient times. For many centuries, vast experience and traditions of doing business have been accumulated, a culture and ethics of entrepreneurship have been formed. Let's talk about how the world history of business development took shape, about the most striking examples of success and starting a business from scratch.

Business Concept

In Russian, the word "business" is synonymous with entrepreneurship, in English this concept literally means "business". The essence of this phenomenon is to profit from any occupation.

Business is an economic activity associated with risks, the entrepreneur assumes responsibility for them. At the same time, a businessman has independence in making decisions and in organizing his business. Business, as an economic phenomenon, is characterized by legal, financial and property liability, the systematic nature of making a profit. Each state has its own laws governing the activities of entrepreneurs, but in any case they provide for legal registration and payment of taxes onarrived.

Business Forms

Over the century-long history of the development of entrepreneurship, its main varieties have developed. The most popular form and historically the oldest is trade, the second most frequent form is production, and the third is the provision of services.

Also distinguished are such varieties as insurance, financial and credit and show business. According to the organizational and legal characteristics, such types of entrepreneurial activity are distinguished as a cooperative, partnership, limited liability company, economic partnership, joint-stock company and family enterprises.

The Emergence of Entrepreneurship

The history of business goes back to antiquity. The first entrepreneurs appeared when agricultural surpluses began to form. Then the most active people began to exchange products for other household items and food. The period of barter lasted for quite a long time, but mostly "businessmen" did business in very small geographical areas. With the advent of money, business processes began to take on a larger scale, financial and insurance businessmen began to appear.

Business in the Ancient World

Documented business history begins in Mesopotamia. There, groups of businessmen created partnerships that, with the help of letters of credit, financed various commercial transactions.

In ancient Greece, trade was the sphere of state control, and entrepreneurs were engaged in providing variousservices, primarily financial and credit. The rapid development of business takes place in ancient Rome. Entrepreneurs create large banking associations, enterprises for the production of clothing, weapons, household items and furniture. At this time, the labor of hired workers begins to be actively used. But production was predominantly manual. During this period, the first systems of accounting and taxation of entrepreneurs were formed, attempts were made to regulate their activities.

Business of the Middle Ages

After the fall of the Roman Empire, business history enters a new stage of development. There is a rapid growth in trade, thanks to Byzantine connections between East and West, new connections are being established between European states and Eastern countries.

At this time there is an increase in production, due to an increase in the number of craft workshops. A class of merchants is formed, which are united in guilds, they combine capital for the purchase of goods in distant lands. In the 14th century, an accounting system was invented in Italy, which later became an important condition for the development of capitalism. By the end of the Middle Ages, large companies begin to appear that not only sell and transport goods, but also produce various goods themselves, hiring workers.

Entrepreneurship development

From the New Time comes a new period in the development of business. The era of great geographical discoveries led to a new surge of entrepreneurial activity. Large trading companies appear, whichequip ships for trade with overseas countries.

In the 16th century, the Reformation led to the emergence of Protestantism, which considered hard work an important virtue and considered we alth as a sign of divine blessing. This has led to the emergence of a large number of entrepreneurs throughout Europe, and especially in its north.

At the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, the English scientist Cantillon used the word "business" for the first time. From the middle of the 18th century, the industrial revolution begins, it becomes possible to quickly produce inexpensive goods in large quantities.

On this wave, a new class of industrial entrepreneurs is emerging, who sought to profit by expanding production. This class becomes a real "engine of progress", businessmen become the initiators of the introduction of new technologies, look for ways to improve the efficiency of enterprises, and develop new methods of managing companies.

In the middle of the 18th century, the scope of joint-stock companies and banking expanded, this leads to the fact that business begins to be increasingly divided into large and small, the gap between them is growing rapidly. In the middle of the 19th century, a class of capitalists is formed, who invest resources in the development of production.

Modern business

From the beginning of the 20th century, the modern stage of entrepreneurship begins, when the number of businessmen is rapidly growing. At this time, business stories from scratch become characteristic, a huge impetus to the development of this area is given by the world's exit from the financial crisis and the spread of the American idea ofpersonal success for everyone.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a new field of activity appears - a manager, scientific methods of business management are being introduced, and more and more new economic theories are being actively formulated.

In the middle of the 20th century, the 3rd industrial revolution takes place, which leads to a breakthrough in the field of innovative business. A new round of entrepreneurship is associated with the commercial development of virtual space. E-commerce has become a platform for the implementation of their ideas by young businessmen. They were attracted not only by the new, unique sphere itself, but also by the opportunity to organize a profitable business with a small initial investment.

The current stage is characterized by the active development of the venture capital business, which is associated with raising funds from investors and implementing business projects in science-intensive and high-tech industries.

History of Russian business: emergence and stages

Russia has its own special way in the field of entrepreneurship. Monetary relations on the territory of our country were born only in the 9th century, and then the first layer of merchants began to form, who wandered the lands of the state and literally profited from their activity.

The adoption of Orthodoxy slowed down the development of entrepreneurship a little, but life cannot be stopped, and the process of creating your own business options is gradually gaining momentum. Russia, as an agrarian country, has always predominantly become a field for the work of agricultural entrepreneurs. worked in the countrya large number of fairs and markets for the sale of various food products.

From the second half of the 16th century, the country entered a period of revitalization of interaction with other countries, this had a beneficial effect on the creation of family and artel types of business. The production of goods is gradually growing, groups of artisans are formed who specialize in the production of their own products.

In the 17th century, the state began to support entrepreneurs, encouraging business initiative. At the end of the 18th century, with the development of the banking loan system, a steady increase in the number of private entrepreneurs began. Merchant guilds, craft artels, various partnerships and communities are being created.

In the 19th century, the history of business in Russia reaches its peak, large and small businesses appear, a class of industrialists is formed. New areas of production are emerging, Russia is undergoing a stage of industrialization. The stability of the economy has helped attract people to the business sector.

Everything changed during the Soviet period. The abolition of private property has led to the fact that the business has become unprofitable and even illegal. The sphere of entrepreneurship has been replaced by state structures. Only after perestroika and a return to the path of a market economy in Russia does it again become possible to do business.

For 30 years, the country has been going through stages of capital accumulation, privatization, distribution of markets and resources. By the beginning of the 21st century, the country had caught up a bit. Although the segment of private entrepreneurship again began to decrease against the backdrop of the financial crisis. Today in Russiasmall and medium-sized businesses are actively developing, the sphere of e-commerce is being formed, entrepreneurship in the innovation sector is beginning to be created.

Small business

World experience shows that stable growth of the economy and its development are provided mainly by small and medium-sized companies. Modern history of small business shows that it is small private companies that are the locomotive of the economy. In Russia, the experience of creating small businesses begins in the 90s of the 20th century, when people without large capitals create various manufacturing and trading companies.

The government is developing various mechanisms to support small businesses and expects that by 2030 about 60-70% of the population will be employed in this area. Over the long history of business, there have been many examples of colossal successes and failures. So, the owner of the largest retail chain Wal-Mart once started his business from scratch. Sam W alton was able to come up with his own successful business model, which eventually brought him millions in profits and turned a small business into a large corporation.

Success stories

World experience knows many examples of how people, thanks to their activity and practical acumen, went from small firms to huge enterprises. Business success stories are numerous.

The impressive story of three friends - Seagle, Baldwin and Bowker - who united in their love for coffee and opened a small shop, which later became the most famous chain of coffee housesStarbucks Coffee. Classic success stories are those of Henry Ford and George Parker who were able to create huge businesses with their ideas and enthusiasm.

A separate page in the history of entrepreneurship is show business. This sphere existed in ancient Greece. But as an industry, it begins to take shape at the end of the 19th century. The history of show business begins in the USA, the development of cinema and sound recording contributes a lot to this.

The real boom in entertainment business begins in the 2nd half of the 20th century, when mass culture begins to take shape. Entrepreneurs appear: entrepreneurs, producers, managers who make it their business to extract profit from actors, singers, writers. Today, show business is a market in which there are a huge number of small, medium and large businessmen.