Enterprises in the Soviet Union were legal entities engaged in some kind of economic activity, such as production,

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics * Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

, the provision of services, or any other economic operation. An enterprise was the general equivalent of "

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared ...

", which was the legal entity prominent outside of the Eastern-bloc economies. Enterprises and production units engaged in activities that are generally undertaken by business-enterprises in capitalist systems, including the design, production, manufacture and distribution of producer and consumer goods and services. In contrast to business enterprises, enterprises and production associations did not engage in business-related activities such as marketing, buying-and-selling and financial decisions. An enterprise often included production units. There also existed associations of production units collectively called " production associations" and " scientific production associations", organized around the production and distribution of a single sector or product. An example of a production association was the Kazan Aircraft Production Association. The generic term for economic units in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

was ''"предприятие"'', or "enterprise". With the exception of the brief period of

New Economic Policy The New Economic Policy (NEP) () was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, ...

, the Kosygin reform and the final period of ''

perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

'' before the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, the terms

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separ ...

corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...

, etc., were considered to be attributes of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...

that were inapplicable to the Soviet socialist economy.

Types of enterprises

Enterprises were classified into three major categories, according to the major forms of property in the Soviet Union: *Based on property of Soviet citizens **Individual enterprises **Family enterprises *Based on collective property **Collective enterprises **Consumer cooperatives **Production cooperatives **Various incorporated businesses: partnerships, joint-stock companies, etc. **Enterprises of public (общественные) or religious (религиозные) organizations *Based on state property **Union state enterprises **Republican state enterprises **Communal state enterprises There were also other types: *Mixed enterprises (смешанные предприятия) *Rental enterprises (арендные предприятия) *etc.

Types of enterprises

See also