Finance, the process of raising funds or capital for any kind of expenditure. Consumers, business firms, and governments often do not have the funds available to make expenditures, pay their debts, or complete other transactions and must borrow or sell equity to obtain the money they need to conduct their […]

Marketing, the sum of activities involved in directing the flow of goods and services from producers to consumers. Marketing’s principal function is to promote and facilitate exchange. Through marketing, individuals and groups obtain what they need and want by exchanging products and services with other parties. Such a process can […]

Business organization, an entity formed for the purpose of carrying on commercial enterprise. Such an organization is predicated on systems of law governing contract and exchange, property rights, and incorporation. Business enterprises customarily take one of three forms: individual proprietorships, partnerships, or limited-liability companies (or corporations). In the first form, […]

Real and personal property, a basic division of property in English common law, roughly corresponding to the division between immovables and movables in civil law. At common law most interests in land and fixtures (such as permanent buildings) were classified as real-property interests. Leasehold interests in land, however, together with […]

Personal computer (PC), a digital computer designed for use by only one person at a time. A typical personal computer assemblage consists of a central processing unit (CPU), which contains the computer’s arithmetic, logic, and control circuitry on an integrated circuit; two types of computer memory, main memory, such as […]