Economic activity of the enterprise. What are the types of business activities

1.Under economicactivity in this Code means the activitybusiness entitiesin the field of social production, directedfor manufacturing andsale of products, performance of work or provision ofvalue-added servicesnature, having a price certainty.

2. Householdactivities carried out to achieve economicand socialresults andWiththe purpose of making a profit is business,abusiness entities— entrepreneurs. Householdactivitycan be carried out without the purpose of making a profit (non-commercialeconomicactivity).

3.Activitynon-economic entities, aimed at creating and maintainingnecessarymaterial and technical conditions of their functioning,which is carried outatparticipationor without the participation of business entities,is economicensuring the activities of non-economic entities.

4. The sphere of economic relations is comprised of economic and production, organizational and economic and intra-economic relations.

5. Economic and production relations are property and other relations arising between business entities in the direct implementation of economic activities.

6. Organizational and economic relations in this Code are understood as the relations that develop between economic entities and subjects of organizational and economic powers in the process of managing economic activities.

7. Internal relations are the relations that develop between the structural divisions of a business entity, and the relationship of a business entity with its structural divisions.

1. Part 1 of the commented article contains the definition of one of the key categories - the concept of economic activity. The economic activity of the Code refers to the activities of business entities in the field of social production, aimed at the manufacture and sale of products, the performance of work or the provision of value-added services that have price certainty.

Thus, economic activity has a number of characteristic features: 1) it involves the activities of business entities; 2) this activity is carried out in the sphere of social production; 3) it is aimed at the manufacture and sale of products, the performance of work or the provision of services; 4) the noted products, works or services have a value character and price expression.

In addition to the HC of Ukraine, the definition of economic activity is contained in a number of legislative acts. For example, in accordance with part 1 of Art. 1 of the Law of Ukraine "On Foreign Economic Activity" as amended by the law of November 15, 2005, economic activity is any activity, including entrepreneurial, related to the production and exchange of tangible and intangible goods that have the form of goods.

In the Law of Ukraine "On Licensing Certain Types of Economic Activities" as amended on February 7, 2006, economic activity is defined as any activity, including entrepreneurial, of legal entities, as well as individuals - subjects of entrepreneurial activity, related to the production (manufacturing ) products, trade, provision of services, performance of work.

It should be noted that the definition formulated in this Code is general and should be applied to all cases of economic activity. Definitions contained in other normative acts are applicable only within the scope of the relevant laws and on the condition that they do not contradict the general definition given in the HC.

2. In part 2 of the commented article, economic activity is divided into two large types: entrepreneurial and non-commercial economic activity.

At the same time, entrepreneurship is called economic activity carried out to achieve economic and social results in order to make a profit, and business entities are called entrepreneurs.

Economic activity that does not pursue the goal of making a profit is a non-commercial economic activity.

The main criterion for dividing economic activity into commercial and non-commercial is the presence or absence of a profit goal. However, other features that distinguish between commercial and non-commercial activities should also be taken into account.

Both entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) activities are regulated in detail in separate chapters of the HC of Ukraine (see chapters 4 and 5 of the HC of Ukraine and commentary thereto). Attention is also drawn to the fact that the concept of entrepreneurship, given in part 2 of the commented article, and the concept of entrepreneurship, formulated in Art. 42 HC of Ukraine are not identical. When determining the signs of entrepreneurial activity, one should refer to the definition of the category contained in Art. 42, since chapter 4 is specifically designed to regulate the relevant relations and the definition of the concept of entrepreneurship in it is more detailed and accurate.

3. Part 3 of the commented article has the nature of an explanation, since it contains a criterion for the difference between economic activity and economic support for the activities of non-economic entities. In accordance with the content of this article, the activities of non-economic entities are aimed at creating and maintaining the necessary material and technical conditions for their functioning, which is carried out with or without the participation of economic entities, is not an economic activity, but is an economic support for the activities of non-economic entities.

4. Part 4 of the commented article, without giving a generalized definition of economic relations, gives only those types into which these relations are divided. In accordance with this, the sphere of economic relations is made up of economic-production, organizational-economic and intra-economic relations. The following parts contain the definition of certain types of economic relations.

5. Part 5 of the commented article provides a legal definition of economic and production relations. They should be understood as property and other relations arising between business entities in the direct implementation of economic activities.

Economic and production relations are connected, therefore, with the direct conduct of economic activities for the manufacture of products, the performance of work, the provision of services. In addition to the criterion of direct participation in the process of economic production activity, the criterion of the subject composition of these relations is also decisive: they arise between business entities. Economic entities and their legal status are defined by Section II of the HC of Ukraine (for more details, see the commentary to the relevant articles of the HC of Ukraine).

Economic and production relations can be both property and non-property. At the same time, property relations, based on the content of economic activity, prevail. Since this Code does not define the concept of property economic and production relations, one should seek clarification of the relevant provisions of the Civil Code of Ukraine.

In accordance with Art. 1 of the Civil Code, property relations are based on legal equality, free will and property independence of their participants. In addition to these features, in order to characterize property relations in the sphere of management, it is necessary to add their commodity-money nature, that is, their occurrence is associated with material wealth. Non-property economic and production relations also arise between equal business entities, but already with regard to intangible benefits.

The main feature that unites property and other economic and production relations is their belonging to the sphere of private law, which also determines the method of regulating these relations - dispositive, private law.

6. Part 6 of the commented article defines the concept of organizational and economic relations, which this Code means the relations that develop between business entities and subjects of organizational and economic powers in the process of managing economic activities.

Organizational and economic relations, in contrast to economic and production relations, belong primarily to the sphere of public law, since they arise between legally unequal entities, one of which is endowed in these relations with the authority of power relative to the other. But unconditionally accepting the statement about the application of the imperative method in these relations is not entirely correct, since the participants in these relations have corresponding rights and obligations, and besides this, not only public, but also private interest is taken into account. Therefore, it is necessary to combine public and private elements in the regulation of these relations.

The grounds for the emergence of organizational and economic relations are very diverse: instructions from government bodies to business entities, administrative contracts, etc.

7. Intra-economic, in accordance with part 7 of the commented article, are the relations that develop between the structural divisions of a business entity, and the relationship of a business entity with its structural divisions.

A feature of this type of economic relations is that they arise directly in the internal production sphere of economic organizations between structural divisions or between them and the business entity itself. These relations are regulated by local acts, they can be both “vertical” and “horizontal” in nature.

Any enterprise operates in macro- and microenvironment. It has a whole set of resources that are used in the process of activity. These are technical and technological, spatial, informational, personnel, financial and many others. In this regard, the economic activity of the organization should be analyzed. This is a laborious process, but it is of great practical importance. It is useful to give a definition. The economic activity of the enterprise consists in the implementation of financial, production and investment processes, as well as in providing them with the necessary resources. This term is especially important for economic analysis, since it is precisely this term that is its subject.

Economic activity of the enterprise. Main types

The economic activity of any enterprise can be divided into main and reproduction. The first group includes processes and means directly related to the production process. The reproduction of fixed assets takes the form of capital investments. This includes capital construction, the process of purchasing and repairing fixed assets, and so on. In other words, the second group includes all business operations aimed at restoring, replenishing, and modernizing facilities.

Economic activity. Indicators for analysis

Any enterprise is studied from different angles to get a complete picture of its condition. For this purpose, different indicators are used. It is necessary to take into account the specifics of the organization, its industry and other factors. As indicators, the volume of production costs, the cost of production, the volume of gross and marketable output, financial performance, the profit of the enterprise, its profitability, the presence or absence of an investment component, and many others can be used. There are complex relationships between all these elements. The economic indicator itself is not considered as a whole, but as a result of the influence of various factors on it. Management personnel have to constantly monitor the slightest changes in actual results in comparison with their planned values. Some emerging problems can be solved by applying a simple algorithm of actions, and some require serious and detailed study.

Any of us, living in a society, constantly encounters a wide variety of economic problems along the way. One of them is the satisfaction of needs (food, education, clothing, rest). It should also be mentioned the need to choose a particular field of activity, whether there are enough funds to purchase the desired product, and much more. So we can say that the economy is an integral part of the life of a modern person. We regularly use economic terminology in our speech without noticing it ourselves. For example, money, expense, income, salary level and many others. Enterprises, in turn, are the basis of the economy, as they produce various goods, perform works and services.

Chapter 2. ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES AND ECONOMIC

SYSTEM OF SOCIETY

1. General characteristics of economic activity.

2. The doctrine of the environment of human life.

3. Forms and models of social economy.

4. The economic system of society in modern economic literature.

Human life activity is studied by a variety of sciences, representing separate branches of knowledge, each of which can dominate in a limited area, within the limits of research precisely assigned to it. Theoretical economics studies the economic activity of people.

1. General characteristics of economic activity

Economic activity is an expedient activity, that is, the efforts of people in the process of managing, based on a certain calculation and aimed at satisfying their various needs.

The vital activity of a person in the process of managing is manifested, on the one hand, in the waste of energy, resources, etc., and on the other hand, in the corresponding replenishment of living expenses, while the economic entity (a person in economic activity) seeks to act rationally, i.e. by comparing costs and benefits (which does not exclude errors in making business decisions), and this behavior is explained as follows.

An essential feature of human life and activity is dependence on the material world. Some material goods (air, water, sunlight) are in such quantity and in such a form that their use is available to a person everywhere, at all times. Satisfying the needs for them does not require any effort and sacrifice. These are free and gift goods. As long as such conditions persist, these goods and the need for them are not the concerns and calculations of man.

Other material goods are available in limited quantities (various kinds of "rarities"). In order to meet the existing needs for them and to have them in sufficient quantities, efforts are needed to obtain them and adapt them to use. These benefits are called economic.

It is they that are of interest to the practical business executive and the theoretical economist. The loss of these benefits is a loss, damage, the compensation of which requires new efforts, costs, sacrifices. The well-being of people depends on them, so the business executive treats them carefully, economically, prudently.

The economic activity of people is a complex and intricate complex of various phenomena and a processor in which theoretical economics distinguishes four stages: production proper, distribution, exchange and consumption.

Production is the process of creating material / k spiritual goods necessary for the existence and development of man.

Distribution is the process of determining the share, quantity, proportion in which each economic entity takes part in the product produced.

Exchange is a process of movement of material goods and services from one subject to another and a form of social connection between producers and consumers, mediating social metabolism.

Consumption is the process of using the results of production to meet certain needs. All these stages are interconnected and interact. But before characterizing the relationship between these four stages, it is important to emphasize that any production is a social and continuous process: constantly repeating, it develops historically - it goes from the simplest forms (primitive man's extraction of food using primitive means) to modern automated production.

high performance manufacturing. Despite the dissimilarity of these types of production (both from the point of view of the material basis and from the point of view of the social form), one can distinguish common points inherent in production as such.

Production in general is the process of human action on the objects and forces of nature in order to adapt them to the satisfaction of certain needs. Although production in general is an abstraction, but the abstraction is reasonable, since it really highlights the general, fixes it, and therefore saves us from repetition.

According to Marxist teaching, the correlation and interconnection of the four stages of economic activity are expressed as follows.

Production is the basis of life and the source of the progress of human society. It is the starting point of economic activity; consumption - final destination; distribution and exchange act as accompanying stages, linking production with consumption. Although production is the primary stage, it serves consumption.

Consumption forms the final goal and motive of production, since in consumption the product is destroyed, it dictates a new order for production. A satisfied need gives rise to a new need, the development of needs is the driving force behind the development of production. But the emergence of the needs themselves is due to production - the emergence of new products causes a corresponding need for this product and its consumption.

The distribution and exchange of the product depend on production, for only what is produced can be distributed and exchanged. But in turn, they have an active feedback effect on production.

Thus, according to Marxist theory, the primacy of production is evident. Today, not all economists share this theoretical position. So, they write: “The primacy of production has always been interpreted in Marxism as the beginning of the principles of scientific political economy and all social science. How justified is this approach? a banality that lies outside of science.

Economics as a science begins not with production, but with exchange, with trade, with the market. Some economists associate the low standard of living of the Russian people with the initial theoretical premise of the primacy of production in the economic policy of the former USSR, where production developed for the sake of production, to the detriment of the social sphere, the service sector, and the production of consumer goods - something that is extremely necessary for a person. Some economists question this theoretical position, pointing out the need to take into account the current real level of development of society, its material base, its dependence on the development of the spiritual sphere, the human mind, and the noosphere.

2. The doctrine of the environment of human life

Economic activity of an individual, their groups and society as a whole

is carried out under certain conditions, in a certain situation, economic environment. The doctrine of human economic activity distinguishes the natural and social environment. This is explained by the fact that in their economic activity people are limited and conditioned: firstly, by nature; secondly, a public organization. The natural environment determines the natural conditions of management. These include climatic and soil conditions, conditions of heredity, population size, quality of food, housing, clothing, etc. We already know that a person carries out his activities in conditions of natural limited resources. So, the area of ​​the globe is 510.2 million square meters. km, and most (3/4) falls on the seas and oceans. At the same time, the soil conditions of the earth's crust are different, the volume of minerals is limited, the flora and fauna are diverse - all this determines the conditions for managing.

A very significant role in achieving certain economic results is played by heredity. In ancient Sparta, children of weak constitution were killed, and on the island of Candia there was a law according to which young people of both sexes, distinguished by beauty and strength, were selected, they were forced to marry in order to improve the "breed" of people. Science today unconditionally recognizes the law of heredity. Children inherit not only external resemblance, but also psychological qualities, not only health, but a number of diseases. Poverty, coupled with poor nutrition, poor hygiene conditions are expressed in an increase in mortality and disease, not only for the present, but also for future generations. It is important to remember that all measures to improve heredity do not have their beneficial effect immediately, but gradually. From the standpoint of modern science about the life of people in the natural environment, it is necessary to take into account the connection between man and space. The idea of ​​human life and activity as a cosmic phenomenon has existed for a long time. At the end of the XVII century. Dutch scientist H. Huygens in his work "Kosmoteoros" noted that life is a cosmic phenomenon. This idea has been comprehensively developed in the works of the Russian scientist on the noosphere.

It is possible to separate man from nature only mentally. Not a single living organism is in a free state on Earth. All of them are inextricably and continuously connected, first of all, by nutrition and respiration with the material and energy environment surrounding them. Outside of it, in natural conditions, they cannot exist, let alone engage in economic activity. Materially, the Earth and other planets are not alone, but are in communion. Cosmic matter enters the Earth and affects the life of people, and the earth (the result of this life) goes into outer space - the so-called "breath of the Earth". The state of the biosphere depends entirely on life on Earth. The strengthening of consciousness, thoughts in the economic activity of people, the creation of forms that increasingly increase the influence of life on the environment, lead to a new state of the biosphere - the noosphere (the intelligent layer around our planet).

The biological unity and equality of all people is the law of nature. From here

the realization of the ideal of equality, and in economic life - the natural and inevitable striving for the principles of social justice.

In the XX century. mankind in the process of its life activity has become a single whole, because today there is not a single corner of the Earth where a person could not live and work, the exchange of information, communication using radio, television, computers, etc. have expanded. All this became possible thanks to technology, created by man. Under these conditions, universal human values ​​come to the fore, and in the development of the world economy, the main problems are global universal problems: ecology, space and ocean exploration, disarmament, provision of energy, raw materials, food, etc. The economic activity of people is carried out within the framework of certain rules of the game, the main of which is property relations. It is these relations that determine the social environment of economic activity, which is reflected in the results of management. A. Smith wrote that "a person who is not able to acquire any property cannot have any interests, except to eat more and work less." Motivation to work here is either extremely weak or completely absent. This theoretical position is confirmed by the practice of economic management in countries where, until recently, "no man's" public property prevailed. Private property creates conditions for free competition and encourages initiative, creative and more productive work.

A significant influence on the conditions of economic activity is exerted by various kinds of state organizations that establish laws, business rules that regulate working conditions, as well as societies, partnerships, parties and trade unions that require improved working conditions and other economic institutions. The replacement of the bureaucratic system of management by free institutions, as it were, "cleanses" the social sphere, freeing business executives from the oppressive feeling of bondage and subordination, awakening in them personal initiative, business scope, and instills self-esteem in hired workers, accustoms them to consistent and persistent, although more calm and correct defense of their interests.

Property relations give rise to differentiation of producers, the poor and the rich appear. Upbringing, education and average life expectancy in these social groups are different. Upbringing and education, contributing to physical and mental development, make a person more capable of work and are reflected in heredity. The French doctor Dipson showed that the average life expectancy of the rich at the end of the 19th century. was 57 years, and the poor - 37 years. in Russia at the end of the 20th century. the average life expectancy was 59 years.

Property relations largely determine the working conditions. Even the ancients understood that a person cannot work without rest. The commandment of Moses says that the seventh day of the week should be dedicated to rest: "Do not do any work on that day, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any your livestock, nor the stranger that is in your dwellings."

The desire for an "unreasonable" increase in the working day is caused by the erroneous belief that profit depends on the length of the working day (K. Marx's theory of surplus value is built on this thesis). There is no doubt that a person can and should work without damage to his body only a certain number of hours a day. It is assumed that during the day a person should work 8 hours, sleep 8 hours and rest 8 hours. If this ratio is violated (working hours increase), then a person shortens the life period during which he will be able to work, and becomes a victim of premature death.

Thus, the behavior of "economic man" is determined not only

natural, but also social conditions, and, consequently, not only social laws, but also the laws of biology, the cosmos and the entire system of laws of natural science. The difference between economic laws and the laws of nature lies in the fact that the former are manifested through the activities of people who have consciousness and, as a rule, on average, as tendencies are (most of them) historically coming.

3. Forms and models of social economy

The history of the development of society makes it possible to single out two main formulas for the social economy: subsistence and commodity.

The natural form of economy is such a form of management in which the production of material goods and services is carried out for own consumption, for consumption within a separate economic unit.

The material basis of natural economy is the weak, low development of the social division of labor. The natural form of the economy is inherent in a self-contained, closed, local character of production, limited by the framework of the given economy, its units.

The subsistence form of economy has historically been based on land ownership, which is the foundation of all property relations. At the same time, it was precisely the absence of private ownership of land, its concentration in the hands of the state as the upper owner, that had as its inevitable result the merging of property and state power. And the merging of property and power gives rise to relations between people directly, and not through the relation to the products of their labor.

These essential features of natural economy determine its conservatism, the so-called stability, immobility. It is precisely this that explains the persistence of agricultural communities over the millennia, which are based on communal ownership of land. The natural form of the economy reflects such a level of development of production that determines its extremely limited goal, namely, the satisfaction of needs that are insignificant in volume and uniform in qualitative composition, which ultimately determines the inertia of the social economy, the low rates of its development.

The historical experience of subsistence farming testifies to the huge variety of models of subsistence farming: the primitive community, the Asian community, the German community (brand), the Slavic "zadruga", etc.

The commodity form of economy is born as the opposite of subsistence economy, first in relations between communities, and then penetrating into them, gradually turning subsistence economy into a subordinate and dying element of the economic life of society. The replacement of a subsistence economy by a commodity economy is a long, complex and varied process, which is largely determined by the specifics of the conditions, the functioning of the subsistence form of economy, its conservatism, inertia, and stagnation.

A commodity (market) economy is a social form of economic organization based on commodity production, which ensures the interaction of production and consumers through the market.

Commodity production, on the other hand, presupposes that products are created by separate, private, isolated producers, each of which specializes in the development of one particular product, therefore, in order to meet social needs, it is necessary to buy and sell products on the market, their commodity-money exchange. Such an understanding of commodity production defines its essence as the production of products for the market for exchange, but at the same time indicates the condition for the emergence of commodity production. The first necessary condition for the emergence of commodity production is connected with the social division of labor. In the process of development of the social division of labor, there is a specialization of producers in the development of any one product. This necessitates an exchange.

The social division of labor is a material condition for the existence of commodity production, characterized by a certain level of development of the productive forces. The cause of commodity production should be considered the economic isolation of commodity producers as different owners. It is the economic isolation of commodity producers that is the necessary and sufficient condition for the transformation of exchange into commodity exchange. Only as a result of the exchange between different owners of the product

becomes a commodity. Economic isolation is possible both under conditions of private ownership and under conditions of collective, communal, corporate ownership. Depending on the nature of the development of these conditions, various models of commodity production and the market system as a whole are formed.

Historically, the original model of a market economy was the relationship of absolute domination of the economic and political power of a centralized state, which, despite all the negative consequences for the development of the economic system as a whole, had sufficient stability and vitality.

A new quality of economic growth, dynamism of development arises only when another model of the market economy gradually sprouts from this model of the market economy, the so-called "Western model", the birth of which dates back to the middle of the first millennium BC, known as the "Greek miracle".

The basis for the formation of this model of a market economy was the formation of a traditional system of private ownership of land, increasingly independent of the state. As a result of the genesis of this model of a market economy, a system has developed where communal ownership of land itself is gradually retreating from private ownership, and the centuries-old absence of distribution and ownership of land by the state leads to the fact that the state turns from the supreme owner into only an instrument of the economic system. Power and property diverge, lose their inseparability.

The modern market economy is based on the interaction of the private and public sectors of the economy. Depending on the degree of intensity of the impact on the economy and on the priority tasks solved by the state, the following models of the modern market economy are distinguished (Fig. 2.1).

As for the Russian economy, it historically relied on the primacy of either state, or communal, or public property, which ultimately determined the specifics of modern market reforms aimed at the transition to a more progressive model of a market economy, in which the main backbone elements are: traditional recognition of private property and power;

functions of the state as an instrument and conditions for the development of market relations.

Rice. 2.1. Models of the modern market economy

Features of the market model of the economy in Russia were also determined by the fact that our country has always occupied a special position between the West and the East. This predetermined the unique character of Russia, since it embarked on the "Western" path of development. This intermediate position was also reflected in the real struggle of opposing tendencies in the development of the Russian economy. A major role in the development of commodity production in Russia and its transition to a market economy model was played by the Witte-Stolypin reforms, during which a developed land market was formed, the trend of the functional role of the Russian state changed dramatically. It was thanks to the efforts of the state that its share in the economy decreased, the non-state sector grew faster, which, constituting a market environment, turned into a dominant one. As a result, in Russia, after the defeat of the revolution of 1905-1907, after the Stolypin reform, for the first time in the history of the country, an economic recovery began, stimulated by the potential of the market.

The model of a market economy, in the center of the system of which there is a person, goes through several stages in its development.

The first stage is simple, or undeveloped, commodity production. His

the essential features are the following:

1. Social division of labor as a material condition for the existence of commodity production.

2. Private ownership of the means of production and products of labor.

3. Personal labor of the owner for the means of production.

4. Satisfaction of social needs is carried out through the purchase and sale of products of labor.

5. Economic communication between people is carried out through the market, that is, it is of a public nature.

Thus, simple commodity production is the production of products for exchange between independent private producers-peasants and artisans.

With a developed commodity production, not only all products of labor, but also factors of production, including labor power, become commodities. Market relations are becoming universal. There is a reification of the entire system of economic relations, which act as relations between things, there is a commodity fetishism.

The achievement by commodity production of its highest stage of development is connected with the establishment of the capitalist mode of production in the process of primitive accumulation of capital, which forms the prehistory of capital and includes the following two aspects.

1. The transformation of the mass of producers into personally free, but at the same time deprived of any means of production. This process means the appearance on the market of a new product - labor.

2. Concentration of monetary wealth and means of production in the hands of a minority.

The first aspect of the process of primitive accumulation of capital - the separation of producers from the means of production - proceeded very slowly, and in itself this process did not yet constitute an epoch of primitive accumulation of capital and the transition of commodity production to a new quality.

This process was accelerated by the active economic role of the state, which contributed to the formation of the initial accumulation of capital, namely the separation of the direct producer from the means of production, the basis of which was the forcible dispossession of the peasantry. The second side is the accumulation of large sums of money and the appearance of the first capitalists. The main methods of the initial accumulation of large amounts of money: the colonial system, the system of government loans, the tax system, the system of protectionism. The state played a very important role in this process.

A special form of social economy is the administrative-command, centralized economy. Although in essence it is adjacent to the commodity (market) form, because the commodity relations of production and consumption are preserved, they are seriously deformed by the excessive intervention of a single economic center, which gives orders and instructions, releases plans, directives, regulations that have the force of laws, to the direct executor - business owner. Such a center is the state, which decides what to produce, how to allocate resources (using the method of funding), attached suppliers to consumers, and centrally set prices.

The material basis of this system was a developed machine production and a developed system of social division of labor. This form of social economy is similar to the first model of a market economy, but it arises at a higher level of development of social production.

Thus, the administrative-command, centrally planned economy is a form of social economy when, in the conditions of a developed social division of labor, specialization of the producer, and a variety of economic structures, conscious strict regulation of the development of the economy as an organic whole from a single center is carried out.

Two main models of this form of social economy can be distinguished: planned-directive and planned-normative. Both of these social economy models represent a consciously tightly regulated economy based on a directive plan or planned standards. At the same time, the independence of enterprises is ignored to one degree or another, and the assessment of their activities is carried out on the basis of the implementation of plans or standards. There are other common and distinctive features of these models (Fig. 2.2).

Rice. 2.2. The main forms of social economy

4. The economic system of society in modern economic literature

In the process of economic activity, economic relations between people always function as a certain system, including objects and subjects of these relations, various forms of relations between them. According to V. Leontiev, the economy of each country is a large system in which there are many different types of activities, and each link, component of the system can exist only because it receives something from others, that is, it is interconnected and interdependent on other links. The economic system is a specially ordered system of relations between producers and consumers of tangible and intangible goods and services. This means that in the economic system of management, activity is always organized, coordinated in one way or another. M. Friedman in the book "Capitalism and Freedom" considers two ways of coordinating the economic activity of people. The first is centralized leadership, coupled with coercion, or hierarchy; such are the methods of the army, the modern totalitarian state. The second is the voluntary cooperation of individuals, or spontaneous, elemental order;

the main signal to action here is prices. A decrease or increase in the price of resources and the results of labor show business executives in which direction they need to act. The concept of an economic system is interpreted differently by different economists: An economic system is a set of mechanisms of institutions for making and implementing decisions regarding production, income and consumption within a certain geographical area (P. Gregory, R. Stewart).

The economic system includes all institutions, organizations, laws and rules, traditions, beliefs, positions, assessments, prohibitions and patterns of behavior that directly or indirectly affect economic behavior and results (F. Pryor).

Such definitions show that economic systems are multidimensional. They can be formalized as follows: where ES is an economic system determined by properties (Ai) that exist in the amount N. These properties can serve as criteria for differentiating economic systems and determining their type.

We can single out the following most important moments of the economic system (Fig. 2.3).

Rice. 2.3. General points of the economic system

Productive forces (a category of Marxist theory) are a system of personal, subjective and material objective factors of social production; it is a set of means of production and people who have knowledge, production experience, skills for work and put the means of production into action. The productive forces form the leading side of social production. Each stage in the development of the productive forces corresponds (according to Marxism) to certain production relations, which act as a socio-economic form of movement. The labor process is the material basis of the production process, but it is not identical to the latter. The process of production of material goods and services includes not only the process of labor, but also the economic relations of workers to each other in the process of labor activity. In the process of labor, not only the external nature of the good changes, but knowledge and experience accumulate, people's qualifications increase, the person himself changes. In this sense, labor created man and is the main factor in his development. The main elements of the labor process are labor as a conscious purposeful human activity, objects of labor and means of labor. The objects of labor are what a person's labor is aimed at, which constitutes the material basis of the future finished product. The objects of labor are either given by nature itself (for example, deposits of ore), or are the product of previous labor, i.e., raw material. The latter includes the main raw materials (objects from which production products are directly created) and auxiliary materials (substances that contribute to the manufacture of the product, for example, in the clothing industry, they can be dyes, threads, etc.).

As a result of scientific and technological progress, a person creates objects of labor with predetermined properties (chemical raw materials), such that do not exist in nature. Nature, the earth, and in a broad sense the whole world around us, including the near-Earth space, constitute the universal subject of labor. The role of raw materials in production is increasing, but the land remains the primary basis of the objects of labor. Before the substance of nature turns into a finished product, it must go through one or more stages of processing, a semi-finished product appears. Unlike a finished product (a completely finished product of labor ready for consumption), a semi-finished product is a product of labor that still has to be processed before becoming a finished product suitable for consumption.

Means of labor - a thing or a complex of things that a person places between himself and the object of labor; what a person affects the object of labor, creating a finished product. The means of labor are the most important indicator of the level of development of production. The material means of labor are subdivided into natural (earth, stick, stone, etc., tamed domestic animals, organic fertilizers, and also the organs of the worker's body) and technical (i.e., artificially created by man). The composition of technical means of labor includes tools - various machines, mechanisms, devices, tools, engines, transmission devices. Under the conditions of machine production, mechanical means of labor developed into a system of machines with three components: a working machine, an engine, and a transmission device. The NTR added a fourth component to the machine system - a control device that performs the functions of mental labor to control the machine system. The so-called cybernetic technology is increasingly being used, the fundamental difference of which from any other machines lies in the fact that it processes not energy (like physical machines) and not matter (like chemical ones), but information. Robotics is gaining ground. Computerization and automation of production cause a change in the role of a person: he gradually leaves the direct production process and becomes close to it. By analogy with the human body, mechanical means of labor can be defined as a "musculoskeletal system of production"; the means of labor that serve to store objects of labor constitute the "vascular system of production" (pipes, tanks, vessels, etc.); the control device can be characterized as a "nervous" system of production "; highways, bridges, pipelines, means of communication and communication form the general conditions of production. Means of production should be distinguished from the means of labor. Means of production - a set of objects of labor and means of labor, which are always interconnected and correspond to For example, baking bread requires not only the presence of flour (object of labor), but also the appropriate ovens, equipment, buildings (bakeries), trays for storing and transporting bread (instruments of labor), etc. The central place in the economic system is occupied by interaction of production factors (Fig. 2.4).

RiceInteraction of factors of production

Natural resources, which include land, oil, water, timber, gas, ore deposits, etc., are used in production and constitute its factor. These resources are rare, and in many cases their supply is declining every day. Labor as a factor of production covers all kinds of human abilities and skills that can be used in the production of goods and services. To be more precise, in this case we are not talking about labor as an expedient human activity, but about the labor force. Labor force - the totality of the physical and spiritual forces of a person, his ability to work. The consumption of labor power in the process of production is labor, or the purposeful activity of man, aimed at changing the objects of nature, adapting them to human needs. Awareness, the expediency of actions, their focus on achieving the desired result, the manufacture and use of production tools in the labor process, as well as the exchange of information, accumulated experience characterize exclusively human labor. Animals make changes in nature instinctively. Capital as a factor of production consists of buildings and structures, equipment, tools, vehicles, means of sale and semi-finished products used in production. By themselves, land, labor and capital cannot create anything. The person (or group of people) who takes responsibility and risk for the use of these factors of production and decides how to dispose of these resources is called an entrepreneur. To make the right decisions in the organization and management of the firm, he must have entrepreneurial abilities, which are the fourth factor of production. Risk is inevitable because entrepreneurs buy and use factors of production without any guarantee that the money they will receive from the sale of their products will cover their costs. They have no certainty that they will make a profit. Only the expectation of profit makes them take risks and take responsibility for their decisions. In Marxist theory, the factors of production are classified somewhat differently: material factors (means of production) and personal factors (labor force). This division is extremely important in Marxism, as it shows that not all factors of production create surplus value and profit, but only the personal factor. It is labor power that is the object of exploitation.

The production possibilities of the economic system are limited by the rarity of the resources used, which, as society develops, is not only preserved, but sometimes even increases. This is due to the fact that non-reproducible natural resources are depleted, consumption does not give new impulses for the development of the production of new goods and services.

The qualitative characteristics of the latter are changing, which causes an increase in demand for consumer goods and investments. But since resources are limited, society must make a choice. When choosing, society is forced to give up something, give up something, that is, make some kind of sacrifice in order to get the desired result. What we refuse is called the imputed (hidden) costs of achieving the result chosen by society. If economic resources are used to build residential buildings, then their monetary value is the cost of land, materials and labor. An opportunity cost would be a hospital, school, library, or offices that could be built with the same resources. Society can direct absolutely all resources to the construction of residential buildings, or it can reduce the volume of this construction in order to build hospitals and schools as well.

Therefore, the volume of construction of residential buildings and hospitals and other buildings are not only alternative, but also complementary. The values ​​of the alternative possibilities are shown in fig. 2.5.

Rice. 2.5. Alternative Capability Values

This digital example can be illustrated on the graph of the production possibilities frontier, or transformation (Fig. 2.6), where the number of hospitals, schools, etc. is marked horizontally, and the number of residential buildings is marked vertically. By fixing the numbers on the graph and connecting them, we get the production possibilities curve, or transformation (ABCDEF).

The economic meaning of the transformation is that society makes a technological choice in the economy - in this case, between the construction of residential buildings, etc. through the redistribution of resources (Fig. 2.6). Rice. 2.6. Production Possibility Curve or Transformation

The production possibilities frontier graph illustrates the fact that

a national economy that fully realizes its potential cannot increase the production of any good without sacrificing another good. The functioning of the economic system at the frontier of its production possibilities (points A, B, C, D, E, F) indicates its

efficiency. Based on this, the choice of a combination corresponding to the point M is regarded as unsuccessful for a given society, since it does not allow it to effectively use production resources. Production based on the choice of the point N is generally not feasible, since this point lies beyond the boundaries of the production possibilities of the given economic system.

Thus, the main problem of the effective functioning of the economic system is the problem of choice. The essence of the problem of choice is that if each factor used to satisfy diverse needs is limited, then there is always the problem of alternative use of it and the search for a scientific combination of factors of production. The reflection of this problem is the formulation of three main questions of the economy (Fig. 2.7).

Rice. 2.7. Basic questions of economics

In the economic literature, there are different views on the development trend of economic (economic) systems. Some believe that the defining trend in the development of systems is the trend towards uniformity, the unification of its structural elements (E. Preobrazhensky). Other economists believe that the existence of different economic systems mutually enriches these systems, which leads to economic growth and the emergence of a qualitatively new economic system.

Such inconsistency of views reflects the inconsistency of the development of the economic system, when one trend replaces another, the long-term development of many countries confirms this theoretical conclusion: general nationalization is replaced by denationalization; universal planning - the rejection of it; centralization - decentralization, etc. The stronger the fluctuations, the greater the difficulties in the development of the country's economy.

The modern world is characterized by the presence of a variety of economic systems, which, in a given historical period, did not remain unchanged, but constantly developed. In order to better understand this or that phenomenon in the life of society, it is necessary to observe it one epoch, but to consider it in the process of historical development, that is, to understand it as something changeable, forming, passing through certain phases, stages of development. The question of the integrity of the modern world is a fundamental issue of social science, part of which is economic theory (political economy).

The modern world is the result of the natural historical development of society. The understanding of this historical process by individual scientists-economists of our time is different and this is explained by the use of various criteria for the characteristics of this process. The best known is the formational approach underlying the analysis of the phenomena and processes of social life. In a letter to V. Zasulich, K. Marx identified three main formations:

1. Primary (archaic), where he attributed the primitive communal and Asian modes of production.

2. Secondary, based on private property (slavery, serfdom,

capitalism).

3. Communist social formation. According to Marx, communism is not

"an ideal mode of production", as many of us imagined it, but a historical epoch that includes a number of modes of production, the main content of which is the destruction of private property. The communist ideal "The free development of everyone is the condition for the free development of all", according to Marx, will come true only after the end of the era of communism in the new era of "positive humanism".

The formational approach made it possible to identify regular steps in the historical development of society and identify five methods of material production (primitive-communal, slave-owning, feudal, capitalist and communist) based on the assertion that the decisive role in social production belongs directly to the production process. Today, the classical distinction of five modes of production is questionable for a number of reasons, including the fact that it applies only to Western Europe and does not have universal significance. The Asian mode of production, the civilizations of China and India do not fit here, with a big stretch, Russia can also be included here. Therefore, considering the processes of world development at the level of formation, the method of material production, for all their theoretical and historical significance, cannot cover the entire complex range of events taking place in the world, and therefore a certain limitation of such an approach is obvious. In the economic literature, attempts are made to use other criteria for analyzing the phenomena and processes of social life. In 1906, K. Bucher singled out on the basis of the criterion of the nature of the relationship in society between production and consumption.

1. A closed household where the goods created are consumed within the household itself without exchange.

2. Urban economy, where there is a direct exchange, benefits are transferred from the producing economy to the consuming one.

3. The national economy, where goods on the basis of commodity-money exchange pass through a number of households before they enter consumption.

The first system is characterized by the existence of primitive family groups

(matriarchal and patriarchal family), serfdom and slavery. The family usually consisted of 16-40 people, the Slavic "zadruga" consisted of 20-25 people. Slave-owning, and later serf households reached enormous proportions. Exchange here was a secondary phenomenon, material goods were accumulated, not sold. Hence the opinion arose that Russian hospitality and hospitality were products of the serf system, when huge quantities of

stocks that were best consumed in a circle of friends.

The second system is characterized by the free economic activity of small independent artisans, the monopoly-guild organization of the economy. The third system is large-scale production with the use of periodically free wage labor. A "national or capitalist economy" arises. The replacement of the guild organization by the capitalist one is carried out with the support of the state, the term "politeia" - the state structure - is gaining popularity. An entrepreneur appears, who first buys finished products, then supplies the craftsmen with raw materials, then he himself becomes a central figure. The spirit of rationalism embraces all relations.

Ed. opposed the scheme of K. Bucher. Meyer and Beloch, relying on evidence of the widespread development of trade in ancient Rome and Greece. They argued that the presence of trade in those days does not negate the fact that the economic type of economy among the ancient peoples was a closed household. The famous American scientist W. Rostow, like K. Marx, divides history into five stages: traditional society (primitive technology, agriculture, the power of large landowners), a transitional society (centralized state, entrepreneurship), the “shift” stage (industrial revolution and its consequences), the stage of "maturity" (NTR, urbanization), the stage of "mass consumption" (the determining role of the service sector and the production of consumer goods). In such a concept, the basis for the development of the productive force and the sequence of stages resemble the teachings of K. Marx, despite some innovations. Modern economic thought, based on the use of the criterion "the degree of industrial development of society", distinguishes: industrial, post-industrial, neo-industrial (information) societies (J. Galbraith, R. Aron, etc.). The most widespread in the world economic literature is the classification of economic systems according to two criteria:

1) according to the form of ownership of the means of production;

2) the way in which economic activity is coordinated and managed.

Based on these signs, they distinguish:

Command or totalitarian economy, where most enterprises are state-owned, they operate on the basis of state directives; all decisions about the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods and services in society are made by the state. These include the former USSR, North Korea, etc.;

Market economy or capitalism of the era of free competition, which

characterized by private ownership of resources, the use of a system of markets and prices to coordinate and manage economic activity. In a free market economy, the state does not play any role in the distribution of resources, all decisions are made by market entities on their own, at their own peril and risk. Despite the fact that they are guided by their own interests, their activities are directed, as it were, according to A. Smith, by an "invisible hand" (i.e., competition) in order to realize the interests of other people and society as a whole. These include, for example, Hong Kong;

A mixed economy, where both the state and the private sector (businesses and households) play an important role in the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of all resources and material goods in the country, where the state intervenes in the market economy, but not so much as to nullify the regulatory role of the market. This includes developed countries, including the USA, England, France, Germany, etc.

A special place in the development of human society is occupied by a transitional economy - an economy that is in a state of change, transition from one state to another, both within one type of economy and from one to another type of economy. It is necessary to distinguish from the transitional economy the transitional period in the development of society, during which the change of social relations of one type to another takes place.

In Russian economic thought, there is a classification of economic systems, which reflects the modern vision of the world as a result of the historical development of various types of civilization. The word "civilization" is of Latin origin, which in translation into Russian means civil, public. This relatively young concept for science was introduced into scientific circulation only two centuries ago and was used by French philosophers of the Enlightenment to characterize a society in which reason and freedom reign. Now in the scientific literature the term "civilization" is used to assess the degree and level of culture (distinguish between ancient and modern, European and Asian, etc.); to characterize the stages of development of human society that replaced barbarism (L. Morgan, F. Engels); it is defined as a cultural and historical cycle of development of closed groups, peoples and states (, L. Toynbee); as the final stage in the development of culture, the phase of its decline (O. Spengler); as a combination of the main components of social life: human potential, the method of production of material goods, the environment. There are gathering, agricultural and industrial civilizations (). Civilization is also considered a certain stage in the cyclical development of society in the integrity of its constituent elements: science, economics, culture, etc. (). In Russia, the idea of ​​civilization as a rationally organized system of economic and socio-legal relations in developed countries is most common. New approaches to understanding the world around us are due to the depth, scale and nature of the changes taking place in the world, especially in the second half of the 20th century. These include: revolutionary changes in technology, technologies that have fundamentally changed

organization of production;

Awareness of the threat of nuclear war, ecological destruction of the community of human destinies;

Awareness of the complexity and multidimensionality of the world of our planet, created as a result of centuries of evolutionary development;

Understanding the qualitative changes in world civilization. One of the greatest tragedies is that we, without noticing it ourselves, are in captivity of the most primitive stereotypes, clichés, one of which is the ability to see the world in a two-color image and think only in paired categories: left-right; conservative Democrats; socialism-capitalism; private and public property, etc. This is the thinking and conceptual apparatus of the 20th century. Today, social, including economic, life with its multidimensionality cannot be described by science in this way.

Hence the need to search for new approaches, new theories that characterize the development of economic systems. In this regard, the theory of the political development of society, the change of civilizations is of undoubted interest.

According to this theory, seven civilizations can be distinguished: Neolithic, the duration of which in the world was 30-35 centuries, and in Russia 20-30 centuries; Eastern slaveholding (Bronze Age) - 12-13 centuries in the world and 11-12 centuries in Russia; early feudal - respectively 7 and 7 centuries; pre-industrial - 4.5 and 2.5 centuries, respectively; industrial - respectively 2.5 and 1.5 centuries; pre-industrial - with a duration of 1.3 in the world and 1.4 centuries in Russia.

Graphically, this can be represented as follows (Fig. 2.8).

Rice. 2.8. Change of civilizations in the world

This theory allows us to take a fresh look at the processes that are currently taking place in the world in general and in Russia in particular. It allows us to draw the following conclusions.

1. The state of the world economy and the Russian economy is the result of the natural course of development of human society; this state cannot be regarded as the result of a failed attempt to build socialism, but 75 years lived by our country as a step back, although these years fall on the decline of industrial civilization, because its dawn, the highest point on the graph for Russia coincides with 1909.

2. The transition to a market economy is not an invention of anti-communists or politicians in power in Russia, but an objective necessity due to the change of industrial civilization to post-industrial; the latter is essentially a socially oriented market economy.

3. Since the market took place in all civilizations (although its role was different), the essence of the modern transitional period is not a transition to a market (it is impossible to move from market to market), but a change from one civilization to another. The statement about the modern transition of Russia to the market indicates that we are in captivity of primitive stereotypes, clichés, according to which it was believed that socialism (including the one built in Russia) is incompatible with the market, the plan and the market are antipodes, etc. .

4. The duration of the transition period, if it is understood as a stage of crisis and the displacement of the outgoing and the birth of a new civilization, according to the calculations of the Leningrad economists and, is 1/4 of the total duration of the cycle, therefore Russia will enter the new civilization approximately in 2010.

5. Due to the fact that Russia later entered this or that civilization, but passed it much faster, we can assume that the peoples of Russia perceive progress faster than is usually thought. It is wrong to represent the peoples of Russia as lazy, useless and inert people. The evolution of civilization shows the opposite. And the great is seen from a distance!

Formation of a new civilization as a concept of seeing the whole picture

the modern, constantly changing world will require the heroic efforts of more than a dozen scientists, the knowledge and skillful application of the laws of statistics, the laws of dynamics, genetics to society, and the improvement of the methodology of economic science.

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The activity of an enterprise is a process that includes not only the direct production of goods or the provision of services, but also financial and economic activities, the supply, marketing of products, the use of labor and material resources, equipment and technology. An enterprise is a structured and living organism.

The structure of any enterprise includes an administrative and managerial apparatus, a production department, a financial and economic department, and an accounting and reporting department. In addition, the structure may include other divisions whose tasks include ensuring a continuous process of production and manufacture of products that would be competitive and meet market requirements in terms of quantity, quality and delivery time. At the same time, the main requirement and criterion for the efficiency of the enterprise is the minimization of production costs, i.e. reduction in the cost of goods and services produced.

Factors that determine the production and economic activities of the enterprise

The efficiency of the production and economic activities of the enterprise, first of all, depends on such factors as the availability of production capacities, the state of the production and technical base, its technical and organizational level, how the organization of production and labor meets modern market and market requirements.

Of great importance for the activities of the enterprise is such a factor as financial and economic planning. This is not only uninterrupted provision of the necessary resources, but also constant control over the current activities of the enterprise, prompt adjustment of management decisions in order to achieve planned results.

Control is carried out by analyzing the production and economic activities of the enterprise by comparing the main results of this activity with the calculated and planned indicators. Such indicators characterizing the efficiency of the enterprise, for example, include:
- profit from the sale of goods and services rendered;
- total production costs;
- profitability;
- the level of remuneration of people working at the enterprise;
- the value of the amount of money on the settlement accounts of the enterprise;
- existing accounts payable and receivable.