Although the notion of a business actually originated from an extremely small scale individual oriented level, with time it has certainly blown out of proportions and has simply got as big as it gets. As a result, the concept of ownership has also grown comparatively more complicated than what it used to be. Now, they can certainly vary from region to region or for a number of other factors, but primarily for the purpose of academics and jurisdiction, business ownership has been categorized into certain broad umbrella like broad heads giving rise to the following forms.Sole Proprietorship – One of the most common and apparent form of ownership of a business, sole proprietorship is the concept of a single individual be the owner of the business owning the means of production. It is entirely upon his or her discretion as to whether he or she would be operating the business alone or would wish to employ subordinates to carry out certain jobs for the proprietor. While in this case the proprietor has complete claim over the profits made in the business which is certainly an advantage, he or she on the other hand also has to consider personal liability for each and every kind of debts sustained by the business.

• Partnership – The very basic idea of partner ship in business actually arises from the need to override the disadvantage of shouldering the burden of liabilities in sole proprietorship. Generally in this particular category, more than a single individual channelize their efforts together in order to earn a profit. This idea of operating all together keeping in mind a common destination or goal forms the essence of partnership form of business. Here, mostly, each of the individual partners has got his or her share of liabilities for the various kinds of debts associated with the business. Typically, partnership can be classified further into three categories called general, limited and limited liability partnerships.
• Corporation – This idea of business ownership can be best understood in terms of maintaining a distance between the owners and the business itself. A corporation can be defined as a legal entity distinctly separate from the member of staff and the shareholders of the company. In fact as a legal entity it has limited liability giving the owners a whole array of advantages. Interestingly, according to the provisions of the corporate law, the organization of a corporation can be done both for a profit as well as not-for-profit motive. Since a corporation is technically possessed by a large number of shareholders, the operation is presided over by a board of directors in charge of employing the managerial staff.
• Cooperative – This is also an entity which has limited liability which can be again organized for both of the aforementioned motives. However, a co-op, as it is commonly referred to as, consists of members as opposed to share holders who have the authority to make decisions about the business policy in this case.

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