American Business Formations in the 21st Century

Overview/Description
 As a manager for your organization, you likely conduct business with numerous companies from different industries and of varying sizes and complexity. And just as you interact with individuals differently based upon their personalities and positions, so too, you conduct business with other companies based upon their different formations. In American business, there are four primary formations: Sole Proprietorships, Partnerships, Franchises, and Corporations. This course examines the specific statutory criteria for each of these distinct business formations. How a business is formed dictates both the rights it has in the eyes of the law and the responsibilities it has towards individuals and other businesses. By understanding these different formations, you as a manager can build successful business relationships. This course presents strategies for conducting business with each kind of business formation and for developing your business through acquisition, joint venture or minority investment. As a manager, you will also be introduced to strategies for avoiding antitrust liability or situations where courts may "pierce the corporate veil." Finally, this course explains the bearing income taxation can have on commercial transactions between different business formations, as well as the impact on organizations when vendors or customers seek bankruptcy protection or voluntarily go out of business. In light of these issues, this course presents strategies that you, as a manager, can proactively use to protect your organization's financial and legal interests.

Target Audience
 This course is designed for managers who compete and conduct business with a variety of businesses; whether those businesses are sole proprietorships, partnerships, franchises, or corporations.

Expected Duration
3.5 hours

Lesson Objectives:

Types of American Business Formations

  • recognize the benefits of having an awareness of the criteria used to determine American business formations.
  • identify the criteria used to determine sole proprietorship status.
  • select the criteria used to determine status as a partnership.
  • identify the differences between franchisors and franchisees based on their individual responsibilities.
  • identify the criteria used to determine general business corporation status.

    • Commercial Transactions between Businesses

  • recognize the benefits of understanding American business formations when conducting business with other companies.
  • apply strategies for successfully doing business with sole proprietorships, partnerships, franchises, or corporations in a given scenario.
  • determine the most advantageous type of merger that an organization should pursue based upon its specific business goals and circumstances in a given scenario.
  • evaluate interactions between businesses in a given scenario to predict whether any party's activities may lead to antitrust violations.
  • identify business activities that could lead the courts to pierce a corporation's protective veil.

    • Taxation, Bankruptcy, and Dissolution of Business

  • recognize the benefits of considering tax obligations, bankruptcy and termination of business protection when entering into commercial transactions.
  • identify federal income tax obligations when conducting business with different business formations.
  • identify the essential aspects of Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code.
  • determine the chapter of the bankruptcy code that would apply to a hypothetical failing company and predict the impact on its creditors in a given scenario.
  • select the steps that an organization should take when another company voluntarily terminates business.
  • employ proactive strategies to avoid the potential liabilities of conducting business with a failing, reorganizing or closing company in a given scenario.

    • Course Number: LAW0104