Primary activities of business?

The primary activities of business in general are separated into three categories; namely the primary, or so-called extractive activities (like mining, fishing, or farming); the secondary (manufacturing or building activities) and the tertiary, or service related activities.

• Primary activities

Primary activities or industries include mining, fishing or farming, for instance. They are also known as extractive activities, because they are concerned with extraction of natural resources or raw materials. A miner, for instance, may extract coal, oil or minerals; a farmer grows and harvests crops and a fisherman may catch lobsters, shrimp and fish.

Products of primary activities can be either raw materials, like oil for processing into plastics or petrol, iron ore for making steel, etc, or end products, such as seafood items, vegetables and fruit.

• Secondary activities

These are the manufacturing industries. Here raw materials and parts produced elsewhere are manufactured or constructed into products, structures, etc. Products of the secondary activities include, for instance, plastics and the many products they are used in, steel, canned food, furniture, etc.

• Tertiary activities

Service, or tertiary activities include such services as insurances, banking, health care, hairdressing, transport services, etc. Some services, such as hairdressing, health care and personal insurances, for example, are direct services to individual users.

Others are so-called commercial services, which are tailored to suit businesses, such as business banking or insurances. Many services overlap in their roles as direct or commercial services, such as banking and postal services, for instance.

• Individual business

For an individual business, primary activities are to manufacture the product or provide the service which presents the main income of the business; create and maintain good relationships with customers and generate new opportunities to sell the main product or service through advertising.