CSEC Principles of Business  /  The nature of business  /  Forms of business organisation

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Forms of business organisation

Every business has a legal form that decides who owns it, who controls it, who keeps the profit and who pays the debts. CSEC asks about six forms, and almost every Paper 1 has a question on them.

By the end of this page you can

  • Explain why a vendor, a group of partners or a co-operative chooses its form
  • Say who owns, controls and takes the profit in each of the six forms
  • Trace how a business can grow from one owner to a public company
  • Define limited and unlimited liability, shareholder, dividend and franchise
  • Recommend a form of business for a case, with reasons

Goals tick themselves off as you try the activities below.

A roadside stall in Trinidad under a red tent: a table piled with green coconuts, another with a pumpkin and a scale, and the vendor standing behind them.

Photo: 999real, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to the stall (a bar’s posters and a banner cropped out), a small sign blurred, resized, JPEG q72.

The simplest form: one owner makes every decision, keeps every dollar of profit and carries every debt.

How often it shows up in past papers

All papers21 of 23 papers
Last 55 of 5 · 2023–2026

Paper 1 counts come from our past-paper bank of CSEC Principles of Business Paper 1s. The last-5 row shows how often it came up in the five most recent papers.

Inside this topic

  1. Who owns itLocked
  2. Six formsLocked
  3. Growing a businessgameLocked
  4. Key termsLocked
  5. Test yourselfmarkedLocked
  6. Practise for real · 37 past questionsLocked