Ideas in this flowchart

• Specialized forms of business organization offer alternatives to sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations.
• An S corporation is a hybrid business entity.
• An S corporation is organized like a corporation, with stockholders, directors, and officers.
• An S corporation is taxed like a partnership, with income and losses flowing through to stockholders as personal income.
• A cooperative is formed when individual producers join together.
• Cooperatives help producers compete more effectively with large producers.
• A vertical merger combines companies at different stages of the same industry.
• Vertical mergers can provide control over resource supplies or access to different markets.