In order to obtain any good, we have to combine different kinds of productive resources:

• in the right amount;
• in the right place;
• at the right moment in time;
• in a single technological process.
• In other words, the production of goods requires coordination efforts.

Such coordination can be accomplished in three ways:

• through the market, where each individual acts alone;
• with the help of a firm, which combines the efforts of many people;
• through a state plan, which combines the efforts of all the citizens of a country.

We already know that the last option in reality turned out to be the least successful, and humanity for the coordination of efforts in the production of goods most often chooses either the market or the firm.

In the world of economics, the basis of choice is always rationality, i.e., the desire to obtain the most preferable result with the available resources. If this result is clearly specified, then it will be rational to obtain it with the lowest possible costs. Therefore, society will resort to the services of firms only in the case that it will produce goods at a lower cost than possible in the market, where all sellers and buyers act alone.