17. Partnership: A business organization in which two or ore individuals enter a business as owners and share the profits and losses. Partnerships like sole proprietorships are common in agriculture; the medical, dental and legal professions; construction, and the restaurant industry.
18.Corporation: A form of business organization that has a legal existence of its own, separate from those who created it or own it. Many bid businesses in Canada, such as Canadian Pacific Railway and General Motors, are corporations.
19.Stock Market: An organized market where listed stocks can be bought and sold. The Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto Stock Exchanges are Canadian examples.
20.Limited Liability: The risk that is restricted to the amount invested in a company. Should the company go bankrupt, the liability of an one of the owners is limited to the extent of that owner’s financial interest in the firm.
21.Sole proprietorship: A form of business organization in which one person owns and operates the business. The majority of businesses in Canada are of this type. Sole proprietorships are common in agriculture; the medical, dental and legal professions; construction, and the restaurant industry.
22.Franchise: A license or privilege granted by a corporation (the franchisor) to another corporation or individual (the franchisee) to sell a particular product or service with an advertised trade name. Most Tim Horton’s donut shops are franchises.
23.Entrepreneur: Individuals who start their own business or who aggressively expand existing ones. They organize the other productive factors (land, labour, capital) for the purpose of producing goods and services and assume the risks involved in running the business.
24.Public Enterprise: A form of business organization, also known as a Crown Corporation, that is publicly owned and provides essential services. In Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Canada Post are public enterprises.
25.Contract: A collective agreement reached by labour and management; the set of rules and regulations governing labour-management relations that results from the collective bargaining process. Contracts apply to a defined period of time.
26.Strike: Withholding of labour services by members of a labour union.
27.Cost of living allowance: COLA) an allowance demanded by many labour unions as part of collective agreements. With COLA’s, wages rise along with increases in the general level of prices (the cost of living).
28.Labour Union: A recognized (certified) organization of workers that negotiates matters of wages, working conditions and benefits with employers.
29.Elastic: A situation in which the supply and demand for a good or service can vary significantly due to the price. The elasticity of a good or service can vary according to the amount of close substitutes, its relative cost and the amount of time that has elapsed since the price change occurred.
30.Shortage: A situation where demand for a product or service exceeds the available supply.
31.Demand: The quantities of a good or service that buyers are willing and able to purchase at various prices.
32.Surplus: The amount of an asset or resource that exceeds the portion that is utilized.