Corporate Entity

A Corporate Entity is an economic organization that is recognized by law (corporate law) to have its own privileges and liabilities distinct from those of its members.

• AKA: Corporation, Legal Entity.
• Context:
  • It can (typically) be constrained by Corporate Law.
  • It can (typically) be a Collective Intelligent Agent.
  • It can (often) have a Board of Directors.
  • It can (often) possess legal personality, enabling it to sue, be sued, own property, and enter into contracts as a distinct entity from its members.
  • It can (often) establish Corporate Governance through fiduciary responsibilities.
  • It can (often) issue shares to raise capital, making it attractive for investment.
  • ...
  • It can range from being a Public Corporation to being a Private Corporation, depending on its ownership structure.
  • It can range from being a Small Corporation to being a Large Corporation, depending on its organizational size.
  • It can range from being a For-Profit Corporation to being a Non-Profit Corporation, depending on its business purpose.
  • ...
  • It can be subject to jurisdictional variations in compliance, reporting, and governance standards.
  • It can maintain Limited Liability protection for its shareholders.
  • It can implement Co-Determination allowing workers to vote for board representatives.
  • ...
• Examples:
  • Public Corporations, such as:
    • Google Corporation (2024) for internet services and technology.
    • Apple Inc. (2024) for consumer electronics.
    • Microsoft Corporation (2024) for software and cloud computing.
  • Private Corporations, such as:
    • Cargill (2024) for food and agriculture.
    • Koch Industries (2024) for energy and chemicals.
  • Non-Profit Corporations, such as:
    • Red Cross (2024) for emergency assistance and disaster relief.
    • World Wildlife Fund (2024) for environmental conservation.
  • Government-Owned Corporations, such as:
    • United States Postal Service (2024) for postal services.
    • BBC (2024) for public broadcasting.
  • Multinational Corporations, such as:
    • Nestlé (2024) for global food and beverage.
    • Toyota Motor Corporation (2024) for automotive manufacturing.
  • ...
• Counter-Examples:
  • Not-For-Profit Organizations, which operate under different mandates focusing on non-commercial objectives.
  • Partnerships, which lack separate legal personality from their owners.
  • Sole Proprietorships, where business and owner are legally the same entity.
  • Unincorporated Associations, which lack formal legal status.
• See: Corporate Law, Limited Liability Company, Company, State (Polity), Legal Person, Charter, Ad Hoc, Jurisdiction, List of Company Registers, Share Capital, Profit (Accounting), Corporation Sole, Transnational Corporation, Multinational Corporation, Financial Institution, Insolvency, Too Big to Fail.

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References

2024

• (Wikipedia, 2024) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_corporation Retrieved:2024-9-29.
  • Public corporation may refer to:
    • Government-owned corporation
    • Public company, i.e. a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the public
    • Statutory corporation, i.e. a corporation created by statute that is owned in part or in whole by a government, such as municipal councils, bar councils, universities)

2023

• (Wikipedia, 2023) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation Retrieved:2023-7-18.
  • A corporation is an organization — usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and recognized as such in law for certain purposes. Early incorporated entities were established by charter (i.e., by an ad hoc act granted by a monarch or passed by a parliament or legislature). Most jurisdictions now allow the creation of new corporations through registration. Corporations come in many different types but are usually divided by the law of the jurisdiction where they are chartered based on two aspects: by whether they can issue stock, or by whether they are formed to make a profit. Depending on the number of owners, a corporation can be classified as aggregate (the subject of this article) or sole (a legal entity consisting of a single incorporated office occupied by a single natural person). One of the attractive early advantages business corporations offered to their investors, compared to earlier business entities like sole proprietorships and joint partnerships, was limited liability. Limited liability means that a passive shareholder in a corporation will not be personally liable either for contractually agreed obligations of the corporation, or for torts (involuntary harms) committed by the corporation against a third party. Limited liability in contract is uncontroversial because the parties to the contract could have agreed to it and could agree to waive it by contract. However, limited liability in tort remains controversial because third parties do not agree to waive the right to pursue shareholders. There is significant evidence that limited liability in tort may lead to excessive corporate risk taking and more harm by corporations to third parties. Where local law distinguishes corporations by their ability to issue stock, corporations allowed to do so are referred to as stock corporations; one type of investment in the corporation is through stock, and owners of stock are referred to as stockholders or shareholders. Corporations not allowed to issue stock are referred to as non-stock corporations; i.e. those who are considered the owners of a non-stock corporation are persons (or other entities) who have obtained membership in the corporation and are referred to as a member of the corporation. Corporations chartered in regions where they are distinguished by whether they are allowed to be for-profit are referred to as for-profit and not-for-profit corporations, respectively. There is some overlap between stock/non-stock and for-profit/not-for-profit in that not-for-profit corporations are nearly always non-stock as well. A for-profit corporation is almost always a stock corporation, but some for-profit corporations may choose to be non-stock . To simplify the explanation, whenever "stockholder" or "shareholder" is used in the rest of this article to refer to a stock corporation, it is presumed to mean the same as "member" for a non-profit corporation or for a profit, non-stock corporation. Registered corporations have legal personality recognized by local authorities and their shares are owned by shareholders whose liability is generally limited to their investment. Shareholders do not typically actively manage a corporation; shareholders instead elect or appoint a board of directors to control the corporation in a fiduciary capacity. In most circumstances, a shareholder may also serve as a director or officer of a corporation. Countries with co-determination employ the practice of workers of an enterprise having the right to vote for representatives on the board of directors in a company. In American English, the word corporation is most often used to describe large business corporations. In British English and in the Commonwealth countries, the term company is more widely used to describe the same sort of entity while the word corporation encompasses all incorporated entities. In American English, the word company can include entities such as partnerships that would not be referred to as companies in British English as they are not a separate legal entity. Late in the 19th century, a new form of the company having the limited liability protections of a corporation, and the more favorable tax treatment of either a sole proprietorship or partnership was developed. While not a corporation, this new type of entity became very attractive as an alternative for corporations not needing to issue stock. In Germany, the organization was referred to as or GmbH. In the last quarter of the 20th century, this new form of non-corporate organization became available in the United States and other countries, and was known as the limited liability company or LLC. Since the GmbH and LLC forms of organization are technically not corporations (even though they have many of the same features), they will not be discussed in this article.

2017

• (Wikipedia, 2017) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/corporation Retrieved:2017-6-5.
  • A corporation is a company or group of people authorized to act as a single entity (legally a person) and recognized as such in law. Early incorporated entities were established by charter (i.e. by an ad hoc act granted by a monarch or passed by a parliament or legislature). Most jurisdictions now allow the creation of new corporations through registration.

    Corporations come in many different types but are usually divided by the law of the jurisdiction where they are chartered into two kinds: by whether or not they can issue stock, or by whether or not they are for profit. ...

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