Corporations
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009The business firms that are corporations account for more than 8.5 percent of total business revenue, even though they constitute only 20 percent of all firms. What accounts for the attractiveness of this business structure? From its start. by an Act of the British Parliament in 1862, the corporation, or “joint stock company,” as it is also called, grew in importance for two main reasons. First, although the stockholders of the corporation are the Iegal owners, their liability is limited to the value of their shares of the corporation. If a Corporation owes you money, you cannot directly sue the stockholders. Of course, you can sue the corporation. However, if a corporation goes bankrupt, you and others to whom the firm owes money may simply be out of luck. This limited liability makes it possible for corporations to attract investment funds from a large number of “owners” who do not participate in the day-to-day management of the firm.
Second, ownership can easily be transferred under the corporate structure. The shares, or ownership rights, of an owner who dies can be sold by the heirs to another owner without disrupting the business firm. Because of this, the corporation is an ongoing concern. Similarly, stockholders who become unhappy with the way a corporation is run can hail out merely by selling their stock.