Types of Businesses

Terms
1. Division of Labor:  dividing production into specific tasks
2. Specialization: each person does only 1 task; they learn that task very well = production
3. Economy of Scale:  situation in which the per unit cost decreases as more goods are produced (buying in bulk)

Forms of Business Organization
1.  Sole Proprietorship
    a. owned by a single person whio makes all the decisions, keeps all the profits, and pays all the losses

2. Partnership
    a. owned by 2 or more people who make decisions together and share profits and losses

3. Corporation
    a. collectively owned by many individuals, but acts as though it is owned by 1 person
    b. are formed by getting a charter from the state
    c. run by a Board of Directors
    d. raise money by selling stock -share of ownership
    e. dividend - share of profit paid to each stockholder
    f. 2 types of stock
        1. common - stockholder has voice in decisions; gets to vote at stockholder meetings
        2. preferred - no vote, but guarantees a dividend each year
    g. Asset - anything of value

Franchises

1.  Franchise: a contract that allows a person to use the name of a corporation and sell the corporation's products
    a. franchiser: corporation selling the contract
    b. franchisee: person or group buying the contract
    c. how it works...
        1. franchisee has to...
            a. pay an initial fee (avg. McDonald's fee = $65,000)
            b. pay a royalty (% of profits) for a period of years
            c. meet certain quality guidelines

        2. franchisee gets...
            a. use of corporation name and products
            b. financial help from corporation
            c. help training employees
            d. national advertising

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