Company size

Company size is a feature of any company. Company size can be used as a criterion to choose between multiple very similar products. See Consumerium User Stories for more detailed story on this

A lot can be estimated about company size just by looking at the type of company:

• sole trader is just one person, though they often employ family members, thus their assets are usually low
• general partnership is formed by two or more persons
• limited partnership is just like general partnership, but can have silent partners that just invest financial capital without participating in the functions of the company otherwise, thus limited partnerships are more likely to have more assets then limited partnership
• co-operatives are common in agriculture and other low technology more labor then capital intesive industries.
• LTDs can be of any size, though there are minimums for stock capital set in law to ensure that they "are serious" since there is no liability for the owners other then losing their vested capital if the company goes bankrupt
• PLCs have more capital then LTDs. This is especially true for companies listed in w:Stock exchanges, since the exchanges have minimum requirements on capital and cashflow in order to get listed

Researching Company Size

How much resources it requires to figure out the rough size of a company depends on it's country (local legistlation) and the type of company:

• In some countries the information is public by law. Information is available from taxing authorities and national registers
• In some countries it is not, in which case this information may be acquired by purchasing one share of the company thus becoming an owner and being entitled to see the financial records of the company