A business plays a vital role in the community, providing various functions and services to fulfill the needs of its consumers. Businesses can be classified based on their purpose, such as profit or non-profit organizations.
a business can also be classified by how it delivers goods or services to its customers. some businesses, such as retail stores and fitness clubs are "bricks and mortar" businesses customers go to a building to buy a product or use a service. other businesses are less visible. they distribute their products and services through channels such as telephone marketing, catalogs, or e-commerce.
Role in the community
A business can also be classified by the different functions that it performs in its community. for example, the Canadian Diabetes Association offers support and raises funds ro help people in need.
Jobs
Finally, a business can be classified by the type s of jobs that it provides. fro example, a health club provided jobs to personal workers, and possibly food service personnel.
Profit or non-profit
Some businesses are run for profit. A definition of a business run for profit is "an organization that produces or sells goods or service to satisfy the need, want, and demands of consumers for the purpose of making a profit." While most businesses are run for profit, others, such as charities, are organized strictly to help people in a community, these community-help organizations are called non-profit or not profit organization.
Goods or services
a business can be classified by the goods that it produces or services that it offers. best buy sells electronic goods, while a local food bank provides a service to community. Canadian businesses provide a wide range of products and services to consumers.
Forms of business ownership
there are four main forms of business ownership: sole proprietorships, partnership, corporations, and co-operatives. Franchises are sometimes labelled as form of business ownership. However, franchises generally are better described as hybrid, meaning that franchises combine several features of some of the other forms of ownership.
Large or small
Are most businesses large or small? Despite what advertising makes us believe, most businesses are either small- or medium-sized. a small- or medium-sized business (SMB) is defined as any business that employs fewer than 500 people. there are over one million SMBs in Canada, employing more than 60% of the canadian work force.
