Four types of business entity: 1.sole proprietorship: this is a business owned by one person for-profit. The owner may operate the business alone or may employ others. The owner of the business has unlimited liability for the debts incurred by the business.
2. partnership: this 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 typical classfications of for-profit partnerships, are general partnerships, limited partnership and limited liability partnerships.
3. corporation: a corporation is a limited liability business that has a separate legal personality from its members. corporations can be either government-owned or privately-owned, and corporations can organize either for-profit or not-for-profit. A privately-owned, for-profit corporation is owned by 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 or publicly held.
4. cooperative: often referred to as "co-op", a cooperative is a limited lability business that can organize for-profit or not-for-profit. A cooperative differs from a for-profit corporation in that it has members, as opposed to shareholders, who share decision making authority. cooperatives are typically classified as either consumer cooperatives or worker cooperatives. Cooperatives are fundamental to the