Businessperson

Merchants emerged as a social class in medieval Italy. 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 were certainly businesspeople.{{Cite book|last=Roberts|first=J.M.|title=The Penguin History of the World, Sixth Edition|year=2013|publisher=Penguin|location=New York|pages=506|isbn=9780141968728|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Koj8JeOLgTcC}}{{qn|date=December 2020}}

Around the same time, Europe saw the "emergence of rich merchants."{{cite book|last= Roberts|first= J.M.|title= The Penguin History of the World, Sixth Edition|year= 2013|publisher= Penguin|location= New York|pages= 509}} 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.{{cite book|last= Roberts|first= J.M.|title= The Penguin History of the World, Sixth Edition|year= 2013|publisher= Penguin|location= New York|pages=510}}

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 capital stock).{{cite book|last= Roberts|first=J.M.|title=The Penguin History of the World, Sixth Edition|year=2013|publisher=Penguin|location=New York|pages=558}} Developments in actuarial science and underwriting led to insurance.{{cite book|last=Roberts|first=J.M.|title=The Penguin History of the World, Sixth Edition|year=2013|publisher=Penguin|location=New York|pages=559}} 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.{{Cite web |date=September 2008 |title=Industrial Revolution Definition: History, Pros, and Cons |url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/industrial-revolution.asp#:~:text=The%20industrial%20revolution%20developed%20in,to%20increase%20output%20and%20profitability. |access-date=2023-05-02 |website=Investopedia |language=en}}

The Oxford English Dictionary reports the earliest known use of the word "business-men" in 1798, and of "business-man" in 1803. By 1860, the spelling "businessmen" had emerged.{{oed|businessman}}

Merriam Webster reports the earliest known use of the word "businesswoman" in 1827.{{Cite web |title=Definition of "businesswoman" |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/businesswoman#:~:text=first%20known,above |access-date=2023-05-02 |website=Merriam-Webster }}

File:Frank-carr-businessperson-common-history.jpg

The newest kind of corporate executive working under a business magnate is the manager. One of the first true founders of the management profession was Robert Owen (1771–1858). He was also a business magnate in Scotland.{{cite book|last= Drucker|first= Peter|title= Management, Revised Edition|url= https://archive.org/details/management0000druc|url-access= registration|year= 2008|publisher= Collins Business|location= New York|pages= [https://archive.org/details/management0000druc/page/13 13]}} 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.{{cite book|last= Drucker|first=Peter|title=Management, Revised Edition|url=https://archive.org/details/management0000druc|url-access=registration|year=2008|publisher=Collins Business|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/management0000druc/page/14 14]}} 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 could hire them with the goal to increase productivity of the private establishments business magnates own.{{cite book|last=Drucker|first=Peter|title=Management, Revised Edition|url=https://archive.org/details/management0000druc|url-access=registration|year=2008|publisher=Collins Business|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/management0000druc/page/15 15–16]}}

{{see also|Income inequality|Gini index|Maximum wage|One-dollar salary}}

Salaries for businesspeople vary.{{cite web|title=Business and Financial Occupations|url=https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/home.htm|access-date=18 September 2015|website=www.bls.gov|publisher=U.S. Department of Labor|language=en-us}}{{cite web|title=Management Occupations|url=https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/|access-date=18 October 2015|website=www.bls.gov|publisher=U.S. Department of Labor|language=en-us}} 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.{{cite journal |url=https://hbr.org/2014/09/ceos-get-paid-too-much-according-to-pretty-much-everyone-in-the-world/ |title=CEOs Get Paid Too Much |first=Gretchen|last=Gavett |journal=Harvard Business Review |date=23 September 2014 |access-date=18 September 2015 }}

{{see also|Business development}}

An entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business or multiple businesses (serial entrepreneur). Entrepreneurship may be defined as the creation or extraction of economic value. It is generally thought to embrace risks beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business. Its motivation can include other values than simply economic ones.{{cite web | title=Entrepreneur: What It Means to Be One and How to Get Started | website=Investopedia | date=2006-05-01 | url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/entrepreneur.asp | access-date=2023-04-02}}{{cite web | title=What is entrepreneurship? | website=Stanford Online | date=2022-01-10 | url=https://online.stanford.edu/what-is-entrepreneurship | access-date=2023-04-02}}{{Cite web|title=Starting a Business {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/finance/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/starting-business|access-date=5 December 2021|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}

In general usage, because the distinction is not clear-cut, the term 'entrepreneur' may be used as a (self-)promoting euphemism for 'businessperson', or it may serve to objectively indicate particular passion and risk-taking in a business field. Still, the distinction is only one by degrees.{{cite web | title=Difference between businessman and entrepreneur | website=Define Business Terms | date=2023-03-19 | url=https://www.definebusinessterms.com/difference-between-businessman-and-entrepreneur/ | access-date=2023-04-02}}{{cite web | title=The Difference Between An Industrialist, Businessman And An Entrepreneur | website=The Gritti Fund | date=2019-02-21 | url=https://thegrittifund.com/entrepreneurship-definition/difference-industrialist-businessman-entrepreneur/ | access-date=2023-04-02}}

{{Portal|Business}}

{{wikt|businessperson|businesswoman|businessman}}

• Business magnate
• Business
• Entrepreneur
• Media proprietor
• Corporate
• Salaryman
• White-collar worker
• Women in business
• Ahaha

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Category:Business occupations

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Category:Entrepreneurship