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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html><head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("http://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.wikipedia.org:80/wiki/Fundamental_business_concepts","20021022204822","http://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1035319702"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <title>Fundamental business concepts - Wikipedia</title> <meta name="robots" content="index,follow"> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/web/20021022204822im_/http://www.wikipedia.org/favicon.ico"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822cs_/http://www.wikipedia.org/style/wikistandard.css"> <style type="text/css" media="screen"></style> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <div id="content"> <div id="topbar"><table width="98%" border="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td width="152"> </td><td class="top" align="left" valign="top"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page" class="internal" title="Main Page">Main Page</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Recentchanges" class="internal" title="Special:Recentchanges">Recent changes</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Fundamental_business_concepts&action=edit" class="internal" title="Fundamental business concepts">Edit this page</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Fundamental_business_concepts&action=history" class="internal" title="Fundamental business concepts">History</a> | <form method="get" class="inline" action="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/redirect.phtml"><input type="hidden" name="PHPSESSID" value="2c778e535bccaf71f0842d5f9f06c4c9"/> <select name="wpDropdown"> <option value="Special:Specialpages">Special pages</option> <option value="Special:Preferences">Set my user preferences</option> <option value="Special:Watchlist">My watchlist</option> <option value="Special:Recentchanges">Recently updated pages</option> <option value="Special:Upload">Upload image files</option> <option value="Special:Imagelist">Image list</option> <option value="Special:Listusers">Registered users</option> <option value="Special:Statistics">Site statistics</option> <option value="Special:Randompage">Random article</option> <option value="Special:Lonelypages">Orphaned articles</option> <option value="Special:Unusedimages">Orphaned images</option> <option value="Special:Popularpages">Popular articles</option> <option value="Special:Wantedpages">Most wanted articles</option> <option value="Special:Shortpages">Short articles</option> <option value="Special:Longpages">Long articles</option> <option value="Special:Newpages">Newly created articles</option> <option value="Special:Allpages">All pages by title</option> <option value="Special:Ipblocklist">Blocked IP addresses</option> <option value="Special:Maintenance">Maintenance page</option> <option value="Special:Booksources">External book sources</option> </select> <input type="submit" value="Go" name="redirect"> </form> <p class="subtitle"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Fundamental_business_concepts&printable=yes" class="internal" title="Fundamental business concepts">Printable version</a></td> <td class="top" valign="top" align="right" width="200" nowrap>209.237.238.164 <br><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Userlogin&returnto=Fundamental_business_concepts" class="internal" title="Special:Userlogin">Log in</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Help" class="internal" title="Wikipedia:Help">Help</a> <br><form class="inline" method="get" action="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml"><input type="hidden" name="PHPSESSID" value="2c778e535bccaf71f0842d5f9f06c4c9"/><input type="text" name="search" size="16" value=""> <input type="submit" value="Search"></form></td></tr></table> </div> <div id="article"><h1 class="pagetitle">Fundamental business concepts</h1><p class="subtitle">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. <p>Businesses are established to perform economic activities. With rare exceptions such as cooperatives, they are for profit ventures owned and operated both privately or as corporations. <p> There are many ways to classify or categorize types of businesses. Service businesses will have different, usually smaller, capital requirements than small manufacturers. Distributors will have different inventory control needs than a small retailer or manufacturers. However, most businesses have many fundamental concepts in common and these are useful to know when working with suppliers, customers, and government representatives to meet the needs of your employer or business. <p> <ul><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_sheet" class="internal" title="Balance sheet">balance sheet</a> </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Business_loan&action=edit" class="new" title="Business loan">business loan</a> </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_plan" class="internal" title="Business plan">business plan</a> </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_flow" class="internal" title="Cash flow">cash flow</a> </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Drop_shipping&action=edit" class="new" title="Drop shipping">drop shipping</a> </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Gross_revenue&action=edit" class="new" title="Gross revenue">gross revenue</a> </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Income_statement&action=edit" class="new" title="Income statement">income statement</a> </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Inventory_taxes&action=edit" class="new" title="Inventory taxes">inventory taxes</a> </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Gross_profit&action=edit" class="new" title="Gross profit">gross profit</a> </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_profit" class="internal" title="Net profit">net profit</a> </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Payroll_taxes&action=edit" class="new" title="Payroll taxes">payroll taxes</a> </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_credit" class="internal" title="Trade credit">trade credit</a> </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Shipping_and_handling&action=edit" class="new" title="Shipping and handling">shipping and handling</a></li></ul> </div><br clear="all"> <div id="footer"><table width="98%" border="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td width="152"> </td><td class="bottom" align="left" valign="top"><strong><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Fundamental_business_concepts&action=edit" class="internal" title="Fundamental business concepts">Edit this page</a></strong> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Talk:Fundamental_business_concepts&action=edit" class="new" title="Talk:Fundamental business concepts">Talk page</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Fundamental_business_concepts&action=history" class="internal" title="Fundamental business concepts">History</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Whatlinkshere&target=Fundamental_business_concepts" class="internal" title="Special:Whatlinkshere">What links here</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Recentchangeslinked&target=Fundamental_business_concepts" class="internal" title="Special:Recentchangeslinked">Watch links</a> <br><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page" class="internal" title="Main Page">Main Page</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About" class="internal" title="Wikipedia:About">About Wikipedia</a> | <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Recentchanges" class="internal" title="Special:Recentchanges">Recent changes</a> | <form class="inline" method="get" action="http://web.archive.org/web/20021022204822/http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml"><input type="hidden" name="PHPSESSID" value="2c778e535bccaf71f0842d5f9f06c4c9"/><input type="text" name="search" size="16" value=""> <input type="submit" value="Search"></form><br><span id="pagestats">This page has been accessed 174 times. 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