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> > Does anyone know about the origins of the term enterprise in corporate
> > America - was it pre or post Star Trek.
Maybe the term 'the firm' was used less and less because of it's family
owned connotations.
The 'enterprise' is a good word for describing a business that is not simply
just family owned firm but was actually out to accomplish something, meet
objectives and be anything but simply entrenched ('firm').
In England, I know that the Stock Exchange was setup to help people raise
money for 'enterprises' that existed at the time. Around the 1750's I think.
Usually, these enterprises were sailing missions of Piracy or Trade.
If one had a boat, or just an idea that involved a boat, one could raise money
to go and do it.
It was usually to pirate Spanish ships and bring back their Gold. Or to
conscript some help from Africa to help make cups of tea at the local Tennis
club. Even bring back the tea from Ceylon or Kenya etc...
England became very good at piracy because it had an organised system to fund
'enterprises'. People could put in money to send a boat here or there to pick
up stuff, and then if the result was successful, get a share of the rewards.
That's actually the basis for the modern stock-exchange system and the
enterprise that actually exists all around the world today.
Times may have changed since the days of the pirates, but the system is in
many ways still the same.
David
--
Computergrid : The ones with the most connections win.
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