what's clearest term to distinguish businesses that actually make things and provide services and...

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17. it's a bit like white privilege / male privilege, etc. kinda hard to avoid it even if you're trying

speaking as a white male, i'm aware that some of the success i've gotten in my career is due to my being a white male. i can't point to any specific incident, but it can't be complete coincidence. just as i'm also aware that i've been at a disadvantage for being short and non-religious (particularly non-christian) being active in my "church" likely would have led to advantageous business connections.

it's entirely possible to do nothing wrong but to be a beneficiary of unfairness, such as when i get a job, did they choose me in some small part because i'm white? because i'm male? i'll never know, but i look around an notice there are few women and fewer blacks at my level.

similarly, it's nearly impossible, at some level, to run any sort of a business without being the beneficiary of some unfairness. nearly any time you negotiate you're likely to argue for, and occassionally successfully get, more than your fair share.

a simple example is volume rebates or discounts from suppliers. you're taking advantage of the fact that you, as business, even if small, might well be placing larger and more frequent orders than the typical retail customer, and therefore can get a better price. the way our system is set up, you'd be crazy not to do this. but in the process, you're taking advantage of your situation and effectively causing smaller purchaser to subsidize your operation (just as you're subsidizing the operations of larger businesses who can get bigger discounts).