Week 4 · Readings & resources

Week 4 — Readings & Resources

Introduction to Business Free sample edition

Your primary reading is Chapter 4 (in this module). Everything below is the optional, go-deeper layer — pick what helps, skip the rest.

How to use this page

This page has 10 items (4 readings and 6 videos). Allow 73–86 minutes for everything. Each group links back to the matching chapter section and class-session segment, so use the full menu when you want more, or take the quick path below.

Every video here has captions: turn them on with the CC button in the player. The chapter covers the same ideas in text.

Pick-one quick path (17–20 min total)

① Who owns the business, and whose savings are at risk

Chapter 4, Section “Meet the sole proprietorship: one owner, no cap” · Session 1, Segment 1, “One owner, no wall” · Remember: the form decides whose savings stand behind a business debt.

Choosing the right business structure — business.govt.nz — a national government business site's plain guide to owning a business alone, with partners, or as a company, and what each means for debts; it describes New Zealand, where the labels differ from U.S. ones, so read it for the trade-offs rather than the names. (reading, 8–11 min)
Types of Business Ownership Explained — Two Teachers — a classroom-style tour of owning a business alone, with partners, or through a company, using British labels such as sole trader; as you watch, match each type it names to a form in the chapter. (video, 11 min) (captions: creator)
Limited Liability and Unlimited Liability — Two Teachers — a short explainer on the difference between an owner who can lose everything and an owner who can lose only what was put in; use it to check your answer on the coffee cart's two exposures in the Week-4 module overview. (video, 3 min) (captions: creator)

② The LLC, the cooperative, and the other forms

Chapter 4, Section “Name the LLC and the other forms the IRS lists” · Session 1, Segment 3, “The LLC and the other forms” · Remember: two forms can share limited liability and still be different forms.

Legal Basics and Business Entity Formation: Crash Course Business Entrepreneurship #5 — CrashCourse — a lively episode on the U.S. business forms, from the sole proprietorship to the LLC and the corporation, and what each means for liability; this builds on Week 3's work with the start-up funding plan, since the form decides who stands behind that plan's loan. Notice that it calls the LLC a hybrid, while the chapter treats it as its own form. (video, 15 min) (captions: creator)
7 Cooperative Principles — U.S. Co-ops — a national cooperative business association's page on how co-ops are owned and run by their members, one member and one vote; read the sections on values and member control, and connect them to the chapter's family farms. (reading, 8–11 min)

③ Franchises and how companies combine

Chapter 4, Section “Weigh a franchise: buying into someone else's brand” · Session 2, Segment 6, “Renting a brand” · Remember: a franchisee pays for the right to use a brand and never owns it.

A Consumer's Guide to Buying a Franchise — Federal Trade Commission — the federal consumer-protection agency's guide for anyone thinking of buying a franchise; read the franchise business model and the disclosure document parts, as general education and not advice for any real purchase. (reading, 10–14 min)
The Ins and Outs of Franchising: A Business Student's Guide — Business Partner — a short business-studies explainer on how a franchise works, what the franchisee pays for, and the trade-offs on each side; listen for what the franchisee gives up in exchange for a known name, and treat its closing example of a real fast-food chain as the video's own story, not a fact this course has checked. (video, 4 min) (captions: creator)
Episode 30C: Mergers — mjmfoodie — an economics explainer that sorts mergers into three types and says when government steps in; pause after each type and name a pair of businesses that would fit it. Stop here before the question of what a corporation is for; next week takes that up. (video, 5 min) (captions: creator)
What are Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)? A Simple Explanation for Teens and Beginners — Easy Peasy Finance — a beginner's explainer on the difference between a merger and an acquisition and why companies combine; listen for which company ends up in charge after each kind of deal. (video, 4 min) (captions: creator)

Optional one-stop reference (free online reference)

Launch your business: choose a business structure — U.S. Small Business Administration — the federal small-business agency's guide, which this course returns to; read the choose-a-business-structure part for the common structures and how they compare on liability, as general education rather than advice for your own business, and skip the registration and tax-ID steps. (reading, 5–8 min)

Heads-up (links rot): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages. If a link ever fails, tell your instructor and use the reference above in the meantime.

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