Corporation

Corporations exist as a product of corporate law, and their rules balance the interests of the shareholders that invest their capital and the employees who contribute their labor. People work together in corporations to produce value and generate income. In modern times, corporations have become an increasingly dominant part of economic life. 

People rely on corporations for employment, for their goods and services, for the value of the pensions, for economic growth and social development. Persons and other legal entities composed of persons can have the right to vote or share in the profit of corporations.

 In the case of for-profit corporations, these voters hold shares of stock and are thus called shareholders or stockholders. When no stockholders exist, a corporation may exist as a non-stock corporation, and instead of having stockholders, the corporation has members who have the right to vote on its operations.

Members of a corporation except for non-profit corporations are said to have a residual interest. Should the corporation end its existence, the members are the last to receive its assets and others with interests in the corporation. This can make investment in a corporation risky however; a diverse investment portfolio minimizes this risk.