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Enterprise Concept
Enterprise is a specific kind of
organization that is characterized by the fact that its ultimate aim is
its profits maximization; ultimately, in a company all the other goals
are in reality ways used to maximize profits. In the case of a public
company, the ultimate aim can be slightly different and be more
associated to social profitability goals.
Enterprise classification
Companies can be classified in several
ways being the most common its juridical form, its equity property, its
size and still the sector to which belongs.
Classification as to juridical form:
depending on the countries, the most common companies’ juridical forms
are the following:
. Society by shares: in societies by
shares the equity is represented by shares, each one of which allocated
to a certain partner;
. Anonymous society: in this type of
societies the equity is represented by shares, which are not allocated
to specific shareholders;
. Limited partnership: society that is
characterized by the existence of two types of partners: general
partners and limited partners;
Classification as to its equity property:
the most usual distinction is between public and private companies:
. Public companies: companies whose equity
is detained by the Staten or by institutions directly controlled by him;
. Private companies: companies whose
equity is detained by individual people or by private institutions;
. Mixed equity companies: companies whose
equity is simultaneously detained by the State and private entities.
Classification as to the size: the
companies’ classification as to the size is different between countries
but is generally associated to magnitudes such as business volume or
employees number. In the Portuguese case is used the European
classification:
. Microenterprise: company with less than
10 employees, a business volume inferior to 2 million Euros and a
balance also inferior to 2 million Euros;
. Small Business: company with less than
50 employees, business volume inferior to 10 million Euros and a balance
also inferior to 10 million Euros;
. Medium Business: company with less than
250 employees, business volume inferior to 50 million Euros and a
balance also inferior to 43 million Euros;
. Big Company: company with magnitudes
superior to the presented before.
Classification as to the sector to which
belongs: this type of classification has to do with the activity
developed. The main division is between the primary sector, secondary
sector and third sector:
. Primary sector: includes the activities
directly related with the exploitation of primary resources, namely
agricultures, fishing, farming and mining;
. Secondary sector: refers to the
transformation activities and includes industrial and construction
activities and public works;
. Third sector: includes the activities
related with services and with commerce, distribution and transports.
Translated from Portuguese
by Susana Saraiva, Portuguese-English and English-Portuguese translation
specialist. Contact: spams@sapo.pt.
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