The aim of the article is to present the author’s own methodology for interpreting the essence of enterprise based on the knowledge accumulated by economic science so far, as well as the experience of enterprises that actually are functioning at present. Hence, it is necessary to carry out a description of the factors of efficiency of the enterprise, which would claim a certain universality. The article is devoted to the issue of methodology of efficiency of the enterprise institution. An epistemological study of the theory of enterprise has been carried out, which in its modern form assumes a multiplicity of factors of the model of organizational efficiency and includes both traditional economic factors and the factors, which are non-economic by nature. Attention is focused on the fact that the theory of enterprise, for all its importance, continues to be the subject of discussion. The thesis of the special status and structural state of the post-industrial enterprise is presented. The author’s own methodology of the market is substantiated, according to which the activity and efficiency of a modern enterprise mainly depends on a complex of primarily internal organizational factors, this complex was defined as «internal potential of enterprise». At this, the main goal of the processes of management of the enterprise, in addition to traditional economic criteria, provides for the maintenance of this complex in a state that will ensure the ability of the enterprise both to adapt to the conditions of a particular market and to purposefully influence the market. The latter depends on a set of factors of «management system – internal potential of the enterprise» that is present at each enterprise. The implementation of this multitude of factors determines the efficiency of the enterprise’s activities. Improvement of the mentioned complex of factors can be carried out according to a certain structure of criteria that characterize the uniqueness of each enterprise. Considering this, improvements should be made in relation to those criteria, the characteristics of which will be lower than the desired ones. This allows you to create a well-grounded program of optimizations.