Comprehensive Report: Exploring Different Business Company Types

This report provides a comprehensive overview of various company types, including micro, small, medium, and large businesses, as well as sole traders, partnerships, limited liability companies, and cooperatives. It delves into the characteristics of each type, offering real-world examples to illustrate their practical application. The report also examines different organizational structures, such as functional and divisional structures, and analyzes how these structures impact business productivity. Furthermore, it applies the PESTLE analysis framework to assess the external factors influencing business performance, using Unilever as a case study to demonstrate the impact of political, economic, social, and technological factors. The report concludes by highlighting the importance of understanding these elements for effective business management and strategic decision-making.

Types of Companies

Table of Content
Table of Content..............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
SECTION 1......................................................................................................................................3
Definition, characteristics and example of micro business....................................................3
Definition, characteristics and example of small business.....................................................3
Definition, characteristics and example of medium size business.........................................4
Definition, characteristics and example of large size business..............................................4
SECTION 2......................................................................................................................................4
Definition, characteristics and example of sole trader business.............................................4
Definition, characteristics and example of partnership..........................................................4
Definition, characteristics and example of limited liability business.....................................5
Definition, characteristics and example of public limited liability business..........................5
Definition, characteristics and example of Cooperative.........................................................5
SECTION 3......................................................................................................................................6
Identify different organisational structures and explain how organisational structure affects
business productivity..............................................................................................................6
Using PESTLE analysis and explaining how different external factors affect the performance
of a business...........................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business industry is a wide platform for all who already exist in the environment or are
entering with their ideas and creative abilities. There are N numbers of businesses running and
flourishing in the marketplace (Chang, Paramosa and Tsai, 2021). A very critically characteristic
of a business is its types. There are businesses being conducted under label of different types of
companies. The present report is also focusing over and elaborating about the different types of
Companies that exist in the marketplace along with elaborating about their characteristics. Also
the report covers elaboration about different structures of an organisation and their impact over
productivity.
SECTION 1
Definition, characteristics and example of micro business
A micro business is that organization or enterprise which only has one to nine employees.
Another definition of micro business refers to it as a company who has fewer employees than
five people and generate less than $25,000 annually as revenue. A micro business work as per
other small businesses but they may face difficulties in getting credit and funds for their business
expansion and for grabbing better opportunities. Most commonly micro businesses are found in
the retail sector, health care sector, construction and social assistance sector (Efremov and
Vladimirova, 2017). A very common characteristic of microbusiness is the owners and the
people associated with it are always willing to take risk in order to move forward and attain their
objectives. For example, Boss Brewing company.
Definition, characteristics and example of small business
A small business company is defined as a privately owned corporation, the ship or sole
proprietorship that has your employee’s endless annual revenue than a corporation or regular
sized businesses. Another legal definition of a small business company is, it is an independently
owned and operated business that is not dominant in field of operation and stands to standards set
by the small business administration and law in relation with number of a people and the annual
income of the business. A Small business entity is commonly operated and executed by a single
individual or by bunch of people no more than that. A very critical characteristic of a small
business enterprise is the people are always focused upon achieving the goals of the company
and always keep themselves motivated and self-reliant. For example, CafePod Coffee Co.

Definition, characteristics and example of medium size business
The medium size businesses are also referred as mid-sized businesses which are defined
as those organisations and company only have less than 250 employees, turnover of less than £25
million and assets worth of less than £12.5 million. A very strong characteristic of a medium size
organisation is these types of companies have more than one office locations and also have more
remote employees. The reason behind it is the continuous focus of the entity to expand and
enlarge itself to the wider market and to earn higher profits. For example, Captify
Definition, characteristics and example of large size business
A large business entity or company is the one that has employed more than 250 people
and has an annual turnover of more than £50 million. A company with a large workforce and a
huge international presence with high turnovers are known as a large enterprise which is
operating in multiple countries and have diversify its portfolio on varied stages and platforms by
offering different services and products to the customers (Lassala, Apetrei and Sapena, 2017). A
common characteristic of a large company is it has a huge customer base which is divided
amongst the geographical location in the world. For example, Uniliver.
SECTION 2
Definition, characteristics and example of sole trader business
A sole proprietorship for a sole trader is a type of a company in which all the operations
and activities are conducted by a single person. Sole trader is a company or a business for which
only one person is required and the person is known as the whole and soul of the company. All
the decisions of a sole proprietorship business is made by the sole trader along with bearing all
the risks and enjoying all the benefits as well as from fits that are earned. In simple words a sole
proprietorship is a company which is regulated by an individual on its own without any
jurisdiction or interference of any third party. A core characteristic of a sole proprietorship is all
the liabilities and risks are borne by sole trader who is the owner of the company. For example,
Definition, characteristics and example of partnership
When it comes to a partnership it can be any business entity either a small medium or
large company. Partnership is a business organisation in which decision making power are
divided among different partners as per their agreements and deed developed by them. A
partnership business is a company which is operated by more than one member where all the

members share the profits, liabilities and risks of the company as per their share of profitability
which are decided by them while signing the partnership deed. The deed is an official contract
which holds the information of the partnership being made in different partners that are
responsible for running the company and leading it towards attaining all the agenda. A
characteristic of a partnership organisation is the decisions are dependent upon mutual concerns
and understanding of partners rather than on a single individual. For example,
Definition, characteristics and example of limited liability business
In a simple manner Limited Liability Company is a business structure which is
commonly followed and executed in the United States where the owners of the company are not
liable for any debts all liabilities of the business. Limited Liability Company is defined as a
hybrid business structure which has the characteristics of a corporation and partnership or a
corporation and sole proprietorship. Limited Liability Company has to attach LLC at the end of
the name of the organisation as per the legal norms and requirements (Shin and et. al., 2018).
This is one of the core characteristic of a limited liability company which is needed to be
followed by all business entities that are working under the jurisdiction of LLC. For example,
Definition, characteristics and example of public limited liability business
A public limited liability business under the jurisdiction and legal structure of United
Kingdom is defined as an entity or and enterprise which has the power and ability to sell its
shares to the public and raise money that is capital for conducting day to day as well as long term
business activities of the organisation. A public limited liability company in United Kingdom has
to apply PLC at the end of their names in order to who is recognised by the people and to keep
them informed about the their nature of operations and working phenomena. It is not a
compulsion for a public limited company to sell their shares in the public for raising funds but it
is a common characteristic of the business. For a public limited liability company to run in the
United Kingdom they have to have at least two shareholders (Smerek and Vetráková, 2020). This
is a common characteristic of a public limited company or a PLC. For example,
Definition, characteristics and example of Cooperative
A Cooperative is a business entity which is jointly owned and democratically operated by
the members of the business organisation in the United Kingdom. Every member of a
cooperative has a certain rights and control over the business which enable them the power to

make decisions and to share their opinions. It is a voluntary association of people that is its
members who come together to fulfil their common economic, social, cultural and natural needs
and aspirations by joint efforts for making a difference in the society. For example,
SECTION 3
Identify different organisational structures and explain how organisational structure affects
business productivity.
There are commonly two types of organisational structures that are followed by
businesses around the world as per their nature of activities and business processes. These two
organisational structures are functional and divisional structure. Both of these models defines the
process of an entity and outlines how the business works along with focusing on the productivity
of the company.
 Functional organisational structure is a common type of organisational structure which
is being followed by several companies from a very long time. This organisational
structure divides the company into smaller groups on the basis of their functional areas
like marketing, finance, human resource and many others. The productivity of an
organisation following the functional structure increases as it enable the people to look
over the hierarchy of the company and work accordingly in order to make sure that the
appropriate agendas of each functional area is being fulfilled and contributing to the
ultimate objective of the company (Thorlakson, de Zegher and Lambin, 2018).
 Divisional organisational structure is the second common form of organisational
structure which is followed by businesses in all over the world. This organisational
structure also divides the company into smaller groups but on the basis of their
geographical location rather than on the basis of different functional areas. In simple
words it divides the company as per the geographical locations in which they are being
operating and serving the customers. Most commonly divisional organisational structure
is used by those businesses which are large in nature and are having a wide international
presence making it easy e for the company to locate its hierarchy and work accordingly.
Productivity is increased as different geographical locations have their agenda and all the
appropriate resources necessary for them to fulfil their objectives the best and the most
competitive and potential manner.

Using PESTLE analysis and explaining how different external factors affect the performance of
a business.
PESTLE analysis is a framework which is used for conducting a macro level analysis of a
business environment for a respective company. This tool enables the owners and the decision
makers to gather appropriate knowledge of external environment in which it is operating.
PESTLE analysis of Unilever is conducted below:
 Political- The political factor which affected operations and regulations for you never
was BREXIT. Due to it there were a number of changes that was made by the
government in several aspects and it becomes very critical for a large organisation like
Unilever which is diversified in international markets to cope up and to make the
amendments accordingly.
 Economic- The economic factor which affected the company imposed implications on
performance was rapid changes taking place in tax requirements which was then
indicating influence over the overall profitability of Unilever.
 Social- The people in United Kingdom that is the customers of the country are highly
trustworthy. This implies that the social sector have a positive impact over the
performance of Unilever as increasing customer base and having a study customer share
in the market help the company in being creative and serving appropriate products and
services to them along with making increment in their performances (Todolí-Signes,
2017).
 Technological- In today’s world technology is developing and changing rapidly offering
several platforms and products two businesses belonging to separate industries can help
them in making progress. The same happened with Unilever as the company make sure
of evolving which technology e and adopting relevant tools in order to earn a competitive
edge.
 Legal- The changing policies within the United Kingdom because of BREXIT and
COVID-19 crisis made it very difficult for human liver to fulfil all the legal requirements.
This led the company towards certain legal charges and complicated legal situations
which automatically affected the performance off the brand.
 Environmental- This is a common factor which is being highlighted by the experts in the
recent decade. Environment is a very important external factor which is needed to be

focused by the companies especially the companies who are as large as Unilever. The
environmental factors contributed in increasing performance of the organisation as the
steps taken by the company to protect the environment and reduce their carbon footprint
resulted in in gaining more goodwill and power in the marketplace allowing the business
to run more effectively and with a competitive power around the World amongst different
competitors (Vochozka and Machová, 2018).

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chang, A.S., Paramosa, L.S. and Tsai, C.Y., 2021. Linking key topics to environmental
indicators in corporate social responsibility reports of construction
companies. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management.
Efremov, V.S. and Vladimirova, I.G., 2017, July. The typology of organizational forms of
companies' integration. In 2017 2nd International Conference on Politics, Economics
and Law (ICPEL 2017) (pp. 1-4). Atlantis Press.
Lassala, C., Apetrei, A. and Sapena, J., 2017. Sustainability matter and financial performance of
companies. Sustainability, 9(9), p.1498.
Shin, K., Lee, D., Shin, K. and Kim, E., 2018. Measuring the Efficiency of US Pharmaceutical
Companies Based on Open Innovation Types. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology,
Market, and Complexity, 4(3), p.34.
Smerek, L. and Vetráková, M., 2020. Difference in human resources development in various
types of companies. Polish Journal of Management Studies, 21.
Thorlakson, T., de Zegher, J.F. and Lambin, E.F., 2018. Companies’ contribution to
sustainability through global supply chains. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, 115(9), pp.2072-2077.
Todolí-Signes, A., 2017. The ‘gig economy’: employee, self-employed or the need for a special
employment regulation?. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 23(2),
pp.193-205.
Vochozka, M. and Machová, V., 2018. Determination of value drivers for transport companies in
the Czech Republic. NAŠE MORE: znanstveni časopis za more i pomorstvo, 65(4
Special issue), pp.197-201.
Wu, X., Dluhošová, D. and Zmeškal, Z., 2021. Corporate Social Responsibility and Profitability:
The Moderating Role of Firm Type in Chinese Appliance Listed
Companies. Energies, 14(1), p.227.