Businessperson

A businessman or businesswoman is an individual who has ownership or shareholdings over a private sector and undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for the purpose of generating cash flow, sales, and revenue by using a combination of human, financial, intellectual and physical capital with a view to fueling economic development and growth.[1]

Businessperson
CNOOC Group Chairman Wang Yilin (left) shaking hands with BG Group Chief Executive Chris Finlayson in 2013
Occupation
Occupation type
Business
Activity sectors
Private
Description
Competencies
Education required
Qualification is not required
Related jobs
Capitalist

The term may refer to a founder, owner, or majority shareholder of a private sector. The term may also sometimes refer to someone who is an angel investor of a private entity.

History

Prehistoric period: Traders

Since a "businessman" can mean anyone in industry or commerce,[2] businesspeople have existed as long as industry and commerce have existed. "Commerce" can simply mean "trade", and trade has existed through all of recorded history. The first businesspeople in human history were traders or merchants.[3]

Medieval period: Rise of the merchant class

Merchants emerged as a "class" in medieval Italy (compare, for example, the traditional merchant caste (Vaishya) in Indian society). Between 1300 and 1500, modern accounting, the bill of exchange, and limited liability were invented, and thus the world saw "the first true bankers", who are certainly businesspeople.[4]

Around the same time, Europe saw the "emergence of rich merchants."[5] This "rise of the merchant class" came as Europe "needed a middleman" for the first time, and these "burghers" or "bourgeois" were the people who played this role.[6]

Renaissance to Enlightenment: Rise of the capitalist

Europe became the dominant global commercial power in the 16th century, and as Europeans developed new tools for business, new types of "business people" began to use those tools. In this period, Europe developed and used paper money, cheques, and joint-stock companies (and their shares of stock).[7] Developments in actuarial science and underwriting led to insurance.[8] Together, these new tools were used by a new kind of businessperson, the capitalist. These people owned or financed businesses as investors, but they were not merchants of goods. These capitalists were a major force in the Industrial Revolution.

The Oxford English Dictionary notes the earliest known use of the word "business-men" in 1798, and of "business-man" in 1803. By 1860 the spelling "businessmen" had emerged.[9]

Modern period: Rise of the business magnate

The newest kind of corporate executive working under a business magnate is the manager. One of the first true founders of management profession was Robert Owen (1771–1858). He was also a business magnate in Scotland.[10] He studied the "problems of productivity and motivation", and was followed by Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856–1915), who was the first person who studied work with the motive to train his staff in the field of management to make them efficient managers capable of managing his business.[11] After World War I, management became popular due to the example of Herbert Hoover and the Harvard Business School, which offered degrees in business administration (management) with the motive to develop efficient managers so that business magnates can hire them with the goal to increase productivity of the private establishments business magnates own.[12]

Salary

Salaries for businesspeople vary.[13][14] The salaries of businesspeople can be as high as billions of dollars per year. For example, the owner of Microsoft, Bill Gates makes $4 billion per year. The high salaries which businesspeople earn have often been a source of criticism from many who believe they are paid excessively.[15]

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values than simply economic ones. An entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business or businesses.[16]

See also
Look up businessperson, businesswoman, or businessman in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References
  1. "businessman". WebFinance Inc. 2018. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 6 July 2018. businessman[:] A person who is employed by an organization or company. Businessmen are often associated with white collar jobs. In order to avoid sexism or the perpetuation of stereotypes, the term is often replaced with "businessperson". The term "businesswoman" is less commonly used.
  2. "BUSINESSMAN". Audioenglish. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  3. Dao, Zhi. History of Commerce in China. DeepLogic.
  4. Roberts, J.M. (2013). The Penguin History of the World, Sixth Edition. New York: Penguin. p. 506. ISBN 9780141968728.
  5. Roberts, J.M. (2013). The Penguin History of the World, Sixth Edition. New York: Penguin. p. 509.
  6. Roberts, J.M. (2013). The Penguin History of the World, Sixth Edition. New York: Penguin. p. 510.
  7. Roberts, J.M. (2013). The Penguin History of the World, Sixth Edition. New York: Penguin. p. 558.
  8. Roberts, J.M. (2013). The Penguin History of the World, Sixth Edition. New York: Penguin. p. 559.
  9. "businessman". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  10. Drucker, Peter (2008). Management, Revised Edition. New York: Collins Business. pp. 13.
  11. Drucker, Peter (2008). Management, Revised Edition. New York: Collins Business. pp. 14.
  12. Drucker, Peter (2008). Management, Revised Edition. New York: Collins Business. pp. 15–16.
  13. "Business and Financial Occupations". www.bls.gov. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  14. "Management Occupations". www.bls.gov. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  15. Gavett, Gretchen (23 September 2014). "CEOs Get Paid Too Much". Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  16. "Starting a Business | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
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