Types of Businesses
A business that is established, owned, operated, and often financed by one person.
Sole Proprietorship
A group of people elected by the stockholders to handle the overall management of a corporation, such as setting major corporate goals and policies, hiring corporate officers, and overseeing the firm’s operations and finances
Board of Directors
A legal entity typically formed by people with similar interests, such as suppliers or customers, to reduce costs and gain economic power. A cooperative has limited liability, an unlimited life span, an elected board of directors, and an administrative staff; all profits are distributed to the member-owners in proportion to their contributions
Cooperative
In a franchising agreement, the individual or company that sells the goods or services of the franchisor in a certain geographic area.
Franchisee
The purchase of a target company by another corporation or by an investor group typically negotiated with the target company board of directors.
Acquisition
An association of two or more individuals who agree to operate a business together for profit.
Partnership
A legal entity with an existence and life separate from its owners.
Corporation
A group of cooperative members who unite for combined purchasing power.
Buyer Cooperative
A contract setting out the terms of a franchising arrangement, including the rules for running the franchise, the services provided by the franchisor, and the financial terms.
Franchise Agreement
The combination of two or more firms to form one new company.
Merger
A partnership in which all partners share in the management and profits. Each partner can act on behalf of the firm and has unlimited liability for all its business obligations.
General partnership
A conventional or basic form of corporate organization.
C Corporation
The original name of the "Snickers" bar before its change in 1990
Marathon
Cynophobia is this fear
Fear of dogs
A merger of companies at the same stage in the same industry; done to reduce costs, expand product offerings, or reduce competition.
Horizontal Merger
Partners who have unlimited liability for all of the firm's business obligations and who control its operations
General partners
The owners of a corporation who hold shares of stock that carry certain rights.
Stockholders (or Shareholders)
Individual producers who join together to compete more effectively with large producers
Seller Cooperative
In a franchising arrangement, the company that supplies the product or services concept to the franchisee.
Franchisor
Pierre Omidyar launched this company in 1995.
Partners whose liability for the firm's business obligations is limited to the amount of their investment. They help to finance the business but do not participate in the firm's operations.
Limited Partner
A hybrid entity that is organized like a corporation, with stockholders, directors, and officers, but taxed like a partnership, with income and losses flowing through to the stockholders and taxed as their personal income.
S Corporation
Two or more companies that form an alliance to pursue a specific project, usually for a specified time period.
Joint Venture
Jewish tradition states that this prophet was cut into 2 inside the trunk of a tree.
Isaiah
A merger of companies at different stages in the same industry; done to gain control over supplies of resources or to gain access to different markets.
Vertical Merger