The corporate form of business has three major advantages: (1) unlimited life, (2) easy transferability of ownership interest, and (3) limited liability. While the corporate form offers significant advantages over proprietorships and partnerships, it does have two primary disadvantages: (1) corporate earnings may be subject to double taxation and (2) setting up a corporation and filing the many required state and federal reports is more complex and time-consuming than for a proprietorship or a partnership.
In a limited partnership, the limited partners are liable only for the amount of their investment in the partnership; however, the limited partners typically have no control. The limited liability partnership form of organization combines the limited liability advantage of a corporation with the tax advantages of a partnership. Professional corporations provide most of the benefits of incorporation but do not relieve the participants of professional liability. S corporations are similar in many ways to limited liability partnerships, but LLPS frequently offer more flexibility and benefits to their owners.
c. How do corporations “go public” and continue to grow? What are agency problems? What is corporate governance?
Answer: A company goes public when it sells stock to the public in an initial public as the firm grows, it might issue additional stock or debt. An agency problem occurs when the managers of the firm act in their own self interests and not in the interests of the shareholders. Corporate governance is the set of rules that control a company’s behavior towards its directors, managers, employees, shareholders, creditors, customers, competitors, and community.
d. What should be the primary objective of managers?
Answer: The corporation’s primary goal is stockholder wealth maximization, which translates to maximizing the price of the firm’s common stock.
d. 1. Do firms have any responsibilities to society at large?
Answer: Firms have an ethical responsibility to provide a safe working environment, to avoid polluting the air or water, and to produce safe products. However, the most significant cost-increasing actions will have to be put on a mandatory rather than a voluntary basis to ensure that the burden falls uniformly on all businesses.