What exactly is an enterprise?

An enterprise is a profit-making organization engaged in economic activities such as production, circulation and service. Enterprises create material wealth through various production and business activities and provide products and services that meet the material and cultural needs of the public, which plays a very important role in the market economy. Enterprise, "enterprise" means trying, and "industry" means career. As the name implies, an enterprise is an attempt at a career, but it is committed to the commercial field, indicating an attempt to take risks in a profitable career. As an organization, an enterprise refers to an economic organization entity that uses capital to earn profits. In English it means "enterprise". The concept of enterprise reflects two meanings. One is management, that is, economic accounting is carried out according to input and output, and surplus of funds and property beyond input is obtained. The purpose of enterprise management is generally to pursue profits; Second, it shows that the enterprise is an entity with certain business nature. It can be seen that enterprises basically belong to an economic concept, not a legal concept. The concept of enterprise itself does not reflect a certain legal relationship between the parties involved in enterprise activities. In China, enterprises have long been regarded as economic units engaged in product production, circulation or service activities, and independent accounting is implemented. From the legal point of view, all legally registered, fixed address and relatively stable operating institutions belong to enterprises. Basic understanding of the concept of enterprise: (1) Enterprise exists under the condition of socialized mass production and is the product of commodity production and commodity exchange. (2) An enterprise is an economic organization engaged in basic economic activities such as production, circulation and service. (3) As far as the essence of an enterprise is concerned, it belongs to a profit-making organization that pursues profits. The difference between a company and an enterprise refers to a profit-making economic organization that combines human elements with material elements and engages in economic activities independently. The basic meaning of this definition is: an enterprise is an economic organization; Enterprise is a combination of human factors and material factors; Enterprises have operational autonomy; Enterprises are profitable. According to the needs of practice, enterprises can be divided into different categories according to different attributes. For example, according to the different organizational forms of enterprises, they can be divided into sole proprietorship enterprises, partnership enterprises and corporate enterprises; According to the different legal attributes of enterprises, they can be divided into legal person enterprises and unincorporated enterprises; According to different industries, enterprises can be divided into industrial enterprises, agricultural enterprises, construction enterprises, transportation enterprises, post and telecommunications enterprises, commercial enterprises, foreign trade enterprises and so on. According to Chinese laws, a company refers to a limited liability company and a joint-stock limited liability company, which have all the attributes of an enterprise, so a company is an enterprise. However, enterprise and company are not the same concept, and company and enterprise are a kind of subordinate relationship. All companies are enterprises, but enterprises are not necessarily companies. A company is just an organizational form of an enterprise. The basic function of an enterprise The basic function of an enterprise is to engage in economic activities such as production, circulation and service, provide products and services to the society and meet social needs. The basic function of industrial enterprises: through industrial production activities, that is, using science and technology and equipment to change the shape and performance of raw materials, to produce products needed by society. The basic function of commercial enterprises is to provide needed products or services to the society through the transfer or value exchange of commodity entities.