Corporation
The chick becomes the chicken or rooster and so does your startup grow into the corporation with the scaling and ramping up of operations. Legally, of course, both are companies, it’s just the particular stage of life cycle that is different.
A corporation is a distinct legal entity, separate from its owners. Just like individuals, it has the power to borrow or loan money, enter into contracts with other parties, pay taxes or own assets, etc. An interesting feature of corporations is limited liability. Through this, while shareholders partake of the corporation’s profits from dividends or stock appreciation, they aren’t personally responsible or liable for its debts. Corporations may also exist without the sole purpose of making profit, like charities.
The Creation of a Corporation
Shareholders, by virtue of the stock they hold, are the owners of a corporation that is created for the purpose of achieving a common goal.Whilecorporations can exist for non-profit as well, mostly they strive to generate a return on the shareholders’ investment. There can be one shareholder or many for a corporation. Corporations can be private or public. For public corporations, there can be several thousands of shareholder owners. Just like individual citizens of a country, corporations have to abide by corporate laws prevalent in the country of their operation.
Let’s look at some corporations of the world:
Amazon
Established in 1994, American corporation Amazon is an undoubted leader today in the world of e-commerce. Almost singlehandedly, it has rewritten the fate of physical stores (and not for the better) by making products appear at everyone’s doorstep. The variety of products on Amazon’s shopping site for any country is probably more than what the world’s largest mall or physical retail space could offer. It’s come a long way since inception and is now a blue-eyed, much favoured contender on stock exchanges.
Microsoft
Microsoft founded by Bill Gates in 1975 revolutionised the word Windows and the world of operating software for home and office computers. Office applications under MS Office followed with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and other software that made everyone’s life easier. These are used daily by billions of people all across the world whether they are professionals, homemakers or students. Today, Microsoft is under the leadership of Satya Nadella and doing extremely well generating revenues in hundreds of billions every year. Founder Bill Gates and his spouse Melinda Gates have stepped down from overseeing the company and focus more on philanthropy with their foundation called Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They are both involved in many social causes around the world to alleviate poverty, hunger, as well as health problems.
Apple
Steve Jobs, in 1976, founded the corporation Apple and today it is a venerable tech giant. The iPhone, Mac computers, iPad are some of their iconic products that have become status symbols among millions of people worldwide with queues awaiting new launches, both offline and online. Also in the hundreds of billions of dollars of annual revenue category, it keeps growing even bigger year after year.
Google founded by students Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998 is known today for its powerful search engine and the multinational tech giant it is with worldwide offices. So popular, it is also commonly used as a verb. How many times have you heard the question – “Why don’t you Google this?”
Google has since forayed into other internet services and has many apps like Gmail, Google maps, YouTube, etc. Today, it also provides advertising services, cloud computing, software solutions, etc.
J.P. Morgan Chase
Going way back to 1799, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is one of the oldest financial institutions still standing in the United States of America and one of the biggest financial corporations in the world. It has customers in diverse sectors like corporate banking, trading desks, investment management, underwriting, risk management, etc.
3M
Based out of Minnesota and started in 1902, this corporation is known for its many innovative patents and products such as reflective materials, printer and mobile phone circuits, dental supplies, medical-related products, safety products, and industrial materials like tapes, adhesives, etc. Their products are known to deliver effective solutions for existing consumer needs.
Domino’s Pizza
Guess the name of that familiar pizza delivery shop you see, no matter where you are in the world. Which pizza lover hasn’t heard of Domino’s ? This global pizza chain corporation started off in 1960 in Michigan and today has over 8000 stores worldwide. With a brand value that runs into billions, it is clearly here to stay and possibly keep dominating the pizza world.
Exxon Mobil
One of the world’s largest oil companies in the world today, American corporation Exxon Mobil, headquartered in Texas, is involved in oil and gas. With its refineries supplying to over 100 countries, as well as other products, it is a ubiquitous presence at almost any gas station in the world with brands like Exxon, ESA and Mobil.
General Motors Corporation
The Chevy is a well-known brand of car instantly recognized almost anywhere in the world and it belongs to automobile giant, General Motors Corporation or GM. Founded in 1908, Detroit, this corporation is ranked among the top 10 Fortune 500 companies today with some of its popular brands being Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Holden, Isuzu and Opel among others. It has a presence in over 35 countries worldwide and has sold more than 10 million vehicles.
All of these giant corporations of today were once startups. Among other factors that helped them grow manifold to the successes they are today is an innovative marketing strategy.