Business Case

This chapter is mainly about LLC's. It is an in depth look of the characteristics of the LLC which stands for Limited Liability Company. A hybrid form of business enterprise that offers the limited liability of corporation and the tax advantages of a partnership. A person who owns interest in a LLC is called a member. The members of an LLC can decide how to operate the various aspects of the business by forming an operating agreement. A agreement in which the members set forth the details of how the business will be managed and operated.

Members of an LLC have the power to dissociate from the LLC at any time, but they may not have the right to dissociate. Dissociation does not always result in the dissolution of an LLC. The remaining members can choose to continue the business. Dissociated members have a right to have their interest purchased by the other members. If the LLC is dissolved, the business must be wound up and the assets sold. Creditors are paid off first, and then member's capital investments are returned. Any remaining proceeds are distributed to members.

There are also other forms that can be used to organize a business. A joint venture is one that is a relationship in which two or more persons or business entities combine their efforts or their property for a single transaction or project or a related series of transactions or projects.

Another is called a syndicate which is a group of individuals or firms that get together to finance a particular project, such as the building of a shopping center or the purchase of a professional basketball franchise. A business form similar to a corporation in some respects including transferable shares of stock, management by directors and officers, perpetual existence, but otherwise resembling a partnership is a joint stock company. A business trust is a form created by a written trust agreement that sets forth the interests of the beneficiaries and the obligations and powers of the trustees. With a business trust, legal ownership and management of the property of the business stay with one or more of the trustees and the profits are distributed to the beneficiaries. The last business form is a cooperative. It is an association that is organized to provide an economic service to its members, it may not be incorporated. Most cooperatives are organized under state statues for cooperative, general business corporations, or LLCs. This form of business is generally adopted by groups of individuals who wish to pool their resources to gain some advantage in the marketplace.