Business structures Sole proprietorship Partnership General corporation Limited liability company Cooperative Introduction A cooperative represents a unique way of organizing a business. Corporations other than cooperatives will be referred to here as general corporations. The term IOF will used when referring to any business firm other than a cooperative.
Cooperatives are in no way restricted to the agriculture industry or to rural areas.
They can be found in many different sectors of the economy, including credit and financial services, housing, utilities, health care, child care, and insurance. There are more than 40,000 cooperatives in the United States. A cooperative allows a group of people to achieve economic goals. By combining their resources in a cooperative, a group of people can achieve objectives that they could not do if they acted alone. Once started, cooperatives compete with and are subject to the same marketplace demands as other businesses.