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Legal Centre for Business & Technology
University of Calgary
Business Formats
Every business must have an internal structure or organization through which the owner or owners will operate. The types of business formats which can be adopted are numerous and range in complexity from the sole proprietorship (one business person working for himself with or without employees) a partnership (of two or more) to a large scale public corporation, franchised business system, joint venture or limited partnership. The following is a discussion of the various business formats, how they operate, and how they compare with each other in terms of utility, complexity and risk.