While it is up to a business’ owners to determine the structure of their enterprise, that business structures can influence its size, how it operates, and many other factors. Knowing the difference between, say, a sole proprietorship and a corporation could give you a better idea of the type of work to expect at a particular company.
The following three business structures are among the most commonly used today.
Sole Proprietorships Have Diverse Needs
Sole proprietorships are the easiest to set up and they are subject to very light regulation. These are typically small businesses run and operated by a single person, who is the sole proprietor. Because sole proprietorships are wholly-owned and controlled by one person, careers within these businesses are as diverse as the owners themselves. Some sole proprietors prefer to do most of the administrative work themselves, while others will need to hire professionals who are comfortable taking on a lot of responsibility and job duties. Because sole proprietorships tend to have very few employees, work here often involves being in close contact with the owner.
Partnerships Are a Great Place to Put Your Business Training to Use
A partnership is similar to a sole proprietorship, but instead of having one owner, there are two or more proprietors, who are the partners. Like sole proprietorships, partnerships are easy to set up and lightly regulated, but they have the advantage of being able to pool together the capital, ideas, and talents of multiple owners. That’s a big reason why some of the most successful and innovative companies, like Apple, Microsoft, and Google, all started out as partnerships.
Partnerships are generally small- to medium-sized workplaces. If you were to work at a partnership, your job might include responsibilities that, at larger companies, would be split between different positions. As such, having a business administration diploma that covers many different areas of how businesses are run and administered can give you an advantage when applying for a position.
Partnerships can pool the resources and talents of multiple owners to grow their business quickly
Corporations Often Need a Wide Variety of Business Professionals
Corporations are the most complicated business structure. Instead of having owners, a corporation has shareholders, who invest in the corporation. The actual running of the corporation is done by the directors. Corporations can raise large amounts of capital and shareholders’ and directors’ personal assets are kept separate from the assets of the corporation.
Corporations are tightly regulated and not easy to set up, which is actually good news if you are considering a business administration career. A corporation is so complicated that no one person can take care of running all of it, which is why most corporations need lots of employees with business training to manage various day-to-day activities like scheduling meetings, data entry, correspondence, office management, and more.
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