| A | B |
|---|
| Business organization | An establishment formed to carry on commercial enterprise. |
| Sole proprietorship | A business owned and managed by a single individual. The oldest and most common form of business organization. |
| Liability | The legally bound obligation to pay debts. |
| Lack of permanence | A sole proprietorship ends with the life of the owner. |
| Partnership | A business organization owned by two or more persons. |
| General partnership | Most common form of partnership where both partners share responsibility and liability. |
| Limited partnership | Only one partner in a partnership has unlimited personal liability. |
| Unlimited liability | If a business fails, the owner has to sell personal property to pay off debts. |
| Limited liability Partnership | All partners have limited liability, so they do not have personal liability for debt. |
| Assets | Money and other valuables belonging to an individual or business. |
| Corporation | A legal entity owned by individual stockholders. |
| Stock | A certificate of ownership in a corporation. |
| Closely held corporation | Corportation that issues stock to only a few people. |
| Publicly held corporation | Corporation that sells stock on the open market. |
| Bond | A formal contract promising to repay borrowed money with interest. |
| Certificate of Incorporation | License to form a corporation issued by the state government. |
| Conglomerate | Business combination merging more than three businesses that make unrelated products. |
| Horizontal merger | The combination of two or more firms competing in the same market for the same good or service. |
| Vertical merger | The combination of two or more firms involved in different stages of producing the same good or service. |
| Dividend | The protion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders. |
| Multinational Corporation ((MNC) | Large corporation that produces and sells its goods and services throughout the world. |
| Business franchise | A semi-independent business that pays fees to a parent company in return for the exclusive right to sell a certain product or service in a specific area. |
| Royalty | Share of earnings given as payment to franchiser or producer of a good or service. |
| Cooperative | A business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit. |
| Non-profit organization | Institution that functions much like a business but does not operate for the purpose of making a profit. |
