In your opinion, what three components make up a business? Why are these crucial to success?

I’m confused. Did you answer your own question?

Yes, true.  These are the three basic functions: Sales/Marketing, Operations, Finance/HR.  The goal should be to become strong in each of these areas.  Hire the right people to lead each of these functions when you can (hiring can also mean outsourcing these functions.)

It should be People, Product and Profit, but in today's money hungry business environment it has become Profit, Product and People. The result has been a lessening of quality Customer Care. When Profit is more important than People, the customer gets punished.

I tend to agree with the others on this thread.  You want to approach business using higher resolution thinking i.e. looking at the complexity of the business which is inevitable.  When you design a rocket, you can go to a child who comes up with a drawing or you can go to a mature route. The child drawing will probably give you enough of an idea of how a rocket could function - but it will not give you enough to actually launch the rocket.  To launch the rocket, you need way more details and way more willingness to deal with details and chaos (putting it into order as best as you can).  This involves deeper customized discussions rather than trying to adopt a simple model. You can start with the child diagram, but at some point, you will need a more detailed and nuanced plan and approach. 

You are talking about what Michael Gerber, in his book, "The E-Myth" refers to as roles.  The Entrepreneur, the technician, and the manager.  

I like to think about it this way, the Entrepreneur is focused on the future, the Technician on the present and the manager on the past.  As a business owner you are responsible for the future of your business so it is vital that you spend time there.

The Entrepreneur creates the plan, the Technician executes the plan and the manager verifies that the results received are what was anticipated in the plan.  Most businesses fail because they focus on the technician at the beginning and hope a plan will come together at some point.

The Small Business Administration tells us that 80% of all businesses fail in the first 5 years.  This is why.

People, Strategy-->Execution, Cash, which is all tied together.

Complete nonsense.  Sounds like someone read the tired old "E Myth" books.  This is only for a established product with product/market fit (which is dynamic) in an administrative/bureaucratic phase of business.  The lack of agility in this type of thinking leads old businesses "the way to dusty death."

Business is a function of value creation.  Most of the focus and effort needs to be there, ensuring that product/market fit deepens and evolves.  That is where talent translates to business advantage.

Administration and production are mere afterthoughts, there is nothing to generate there as those worlds have LONG been optimized...and they create zero value.  Here in Silicon Valley we look at those as necessary but insufficient and inconsequential aspects of business...unless you are Exxon or Visa.

Without self-awareness, you will pursue a business that is unfulfilling, and be less successful than if you know who you are, why you're here and embody that within a purpose-driven business. And when you do this, you'll be amazed how life responds synchronistically with your inner alignment.

In the Business Model Canvas---See the web site of Steve Blank.com---all 9 fields are crucial.