Business enterprises can be classified under three categories: ownership, nature of activities, and size.
By Ownership
- Private enterprises: owned by individuals or groups who contribute capital and run the business for profit or non-profit motives, e.g. sole proprietorships, partnerships, joint stock companies, and cooperative societies.
- Public enterprises: owned by the state or municipal authorities, run without a profit motive, e.g. public corporations, nationalised industries, municipal undertakings.
By Sector of Activity
- Primary sector: engaged in extracting raw materials, e.g. agriculture, fishing, mining, lumbering.
- Secondary sector: transforms raw materials into semi-finished and finished products, e.g. engineering, chemicals, textiles, food processing.
- Tertiary sector: provides services, e.g. teaching, tailoring, health care.
By Size
- Small size enterprises: produce a small output, have a small amount of authorised capital, and employ 10-49 people.
- Medium size enterprises: midway between small and large, employing 50-249 people.
- Large size enterprises: large capital, large-scale production, and more than 250 employees.
