Business

(see also money, profit and other keywords)
like many entries in this glossary these are incomplete notes and questions

The history of business

1. Business as trading and exchange may have been with us for millions of years
2. But 10K years of industrialisation encouraged us to quantify assets 
   • (e.g. cash crops, money, oil etc.) 
3. This led to an economy in which isolated assets, materials or entities seem to have intrinsic value. 
   • e.g. so we see enterprise as individual risk-taking (see entredonneur) rather than collaborative synergy
   • e.g. so we expect everything (e.g. living creatures/care/wellbeing) always to conform to economies of scale logic  

What's the Purpose of Business?

1. To be (upwardly) scalable?
   • scaling-up your business is a popular route to higher profits
   • but increasing staff will mean introducing more managerial layers of bureacracy
   • dispersing staff may reduce organisational consciousness (see Dunbar number)
   • this risks diminishing your company's creative culture and heart
   • See Long tail business. 
2. To make a financial profit?
   • making high profits is a performance indicator, rather than a purpose
   • there are always higher profit alternatives (e.g. drugs/armaments)
   • making high profits is not a guarantee of your business's survival
3. To be competitive? (see above)
4. To survive (in the market)
5. To survive (in the community
6. To survive (in the ecosystem)
7. To enhance everyone’s potential
8. To be viable (as a system)