Formas azuis de propriedade

asic forms of ownership[edit]

Forms of business ownership vary by jurisdiction, but several common forms exist:

Sole proprietorship: A sole proprietorship, also known as a sole trader, is owned by one person and operates for their benefit. The owner may operate the business alone or with other people. A sole proprietor has unlimited liability for all obligations incurred by the business, whether from operating costs or judgements against the business. All assets of the business belong to a sole proprietor, including, for example, computer infrastructure, any inventory, manufacturing equipment and/or retail fixtures, as well as any real property owned by the business.

Partnership: A partnership is a business owned by two or more people. In most forms of partnerships, each partner has unlimited liability for the debts incurred by the business. The three most prevalent types of for-profit partnerships are general partnerships, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships.

Corporation: The owners of a corporation have limited liability and the business has a separate legal personality from its owners. Corporations can be either government-owned or privately-owned. They can organize either for profit or as not-for-profit organizations. A privately-owned, for-profit corporation is owned by its shareholders, who elect a board of directors to direct the corporation and hire its managerial staff. A privately-owned, for-profit corporation can be either privately held by a small group of individuals, or publicly held, with publicly traded shares listed on a stock exchange.

Cooperative: Often referred to as a "co-op", a cooperative is a limited liability business that can organize for-profit or not-for-profit. A cooperative differs from a corporation in that it has members, not shareholders, and they share decision-making authority. Cooperatives are typically classified as either consumer cooperatives or worker cooperatives. Cooperatives are fundamental to the ideology of economic democracy.

Classifications[edit]

Agriculture and mining businesses produce raw material, such as plants or minerals.

Financial businesses include banks and other companies that generate profits through investment and management of the capital.

Information businesses generate profits primarily from the sale of intellectual property and include movie studios, publishers and internet and software companies.

Manufacturers produce products, from raw materials or from component parts, then sell their products at a profit. Companies that make tangible goods such as cars, clothing or pipes are considered manufacturers.

Real estate businesses sell, rent, and develop properties including land, residential homes, and other buildings.

Retailers and distributors act as middlemen and get goods produced by manufacturers to the intended consumers, and make their profits by marking up their price. Most stores and catalog companies are distributors or retailers.

Service businesses offer intangible goods or services and typically charge for labor or other services provided to government, consumers, or other businesses. Interior decorators, consulting firms and even entertainers are service businesses.

Transportation businesses deliver goods and individuals to their destinations for a fee.

Utilities produce public services such as electricity or sewage treatment, usually under a government charter.

Management[edit]

Main article: Management

The efficient and effective operation of a business, and study of this subject, is called management. The major branches of management are financial management, marketing management, human resource management, strategic management, production management, operations management, service management and information technology management.[citation needed]

Owners may administer their businesses themselves, or employ managers to do this for them. Whether they are owners or employees, managers administer three primary components of the business' value: its financial resources, capital or tangible resources, and human resources. These resources are administered in at least five functional areas: legal contracting, manufacturing or service production, marketing, accounting, financing, and human resources.[citation needed]

Restructuring state enterprises[edit]

In recent decades, various states modeled some of their assets and enterprises after business enterprises. In 2003, for example, the People's Republic of China modeled 80% of its state-owned enterprises on a company-type management system.[2] Many state institutions and enterprises in China and Russia have transformed into joint-stock companies, with part of their shares being listed on public stock markets.

Business process management (BPM) is a holistic management approach focused on aligning all aspects of an organization with the wants and needs of clients. It promotes business effectiveness and efficiency while striving for innovation, flexibility, and integration with technology. BPM attempts to improve processes continuously. It can therefore be described as a "process optimization process." It is argued that BPM enables organizations to be more efficient, effective and capable of change than a functionally focused, traditional hierarchical management approach.[who?]

Organization and government regulation[edit]

See also: Theory of the firm

Most legal jurisdictions specify the forms of ownership that a business can take, creating a body of commercial law for each type.

The major factors affecting how a business is organized are usually:

The size and scope of the business firm and its structure, management, and ownership, broadly analyzed in the theory of the firm. Generally a smaller business is more flexible, while larger businesses, or those with wider ownership or more formal structures, will usually tend to be organized as corporations or (less often) partnerships. In addition, a business that wishes to raise money on a stock market or to be owned by a wide range of people will often be required to adopt a specific legal form to do so.

The sector and country. Private profit-making businesses are different from government-owned bodies. In some countries, certain businesses are legally