Corporate title

Corporate titles or business titles are given to corporate officers to show what duties and responsibilities they have in the organization. Such titles are used by publicly and privately held for-profit corporations, cooperatives, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, partnerships, and sole proprietorships that also confer corporate titles.

Variations

There are considerable variations in the composition and responsibilities of corporate titles.

Within the corporate office or corporate center of a corporation, some corporations have a chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) as the top-ranking executive, while the number two is the president and chief operating officer (COO); other corporations have a president and CEO but no official deputy. Typically, senior managers are "higher" than vice presidents, although many times a senior officer may also hold a vice president title, such as executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO). The board of directors is technically not part of management itself, although its chairman may be considered part of the corporate office if he or she is an executive chairman.

A corporation often consists of different businesses, whose senior executives report directly to the CEO or COO, but that depends on the form of the business. If organized as a division then the top manager is often known as an executive vice president (EVP). If that business is a subsidiary which has considerably more independence, then the title might be chairman and CEO.

In many countries, particularly in Europe and Asia, there is a separate executive board for day-to-day business and supervisory board (elected by shareholders) for control purposes. In these countries, the CEO presides over the executive board and the chairman presides over the supervisory board, and these two roles will always be held by different people. This ensures a distinction between management by the executive board and governance by the supervisory board. This seemingly allows for clear lines of authority. There is a strong parallel here with the structure of government, which tends to separate the political cabinet from the management civil service.

In the United States and other countries that follow a single-board corporate structure, the board of directors (elected by the shareholders) is often equivalent to the European or Asian supervisory board, while the functions of the executive board may be vested either in the board of directors or in a separate committee, which may be called an operating committee (J.P. Morgan Chase), management committee (Goldman Sachs), executive committee (Lehman Brothers), executive council (Hewlett-Packard), or executive board (HeiG) composed of the division/subsidiary heads and senior officers that report directly to the CEO.

India Section 149 of the Companies Act 2013 mandates a board of directors for each company regardless of its size. The same act mandates that the share certificates must be signed by two officers with titles specified by law (e.g. a two directors or a director and company secretary).

United States

State laws in the United States traditionally required certain positions to be created within every corporation, such as president, secretary and treasurer. Today, the approach under the Model Business Corporation Act, which is employed in many states, is to grant corporations discretion in determining which titles to have, with the only mandated organ being the board of directors.

Some states that do not employ the MBCA continue to require that certain offices be established. Under the law of Delaware, where most large US corporations are established, stock certificates must be signed by two officers with titles specified by law (e.g. a president and secretary or a president and treasurer). Every corporation incorporated in California must have a chairman of the board or a president (or both), as well as a secretary and a chief financial officer.

Limited liability company (LLC)-structured companies are generally run directly by their members, but the members can agree to appoint officers such as a CEO or to appoint "managers" to operate the company.

American companies are generally led by a CEO. In some companies, the CEO also has the title of "president". In other companies, a president is a different person, and the primary duties of the two positions are defined in the company's bylaws (or the laws of the governing legal jurisdiction). Many companies also have a CFO, a COO and other senior positions such as chief legal officer (CLO), chief strategy officer (CSO), chief marketing officer (CMO), etc. that report to the president and CEO. The next level, which are not executive positions, is middle management and may be called "vice presidents", "directors" or "managers", depending on the size and required managerial depth of the company.

United Kingdom

In British English, the title of managing director is broadly synonymous with that of chief executive officer. Managing directors do not have any particular authority under the Companies Act in the UK, but do have implied authority based on the general understanding of what their position entails, as well as any authority expressly delegated by the board of directors.

Japan and South Korea

In Japan, corporate titles are roughly standardized across companies and organizations; although there is variation from company to company, corporate titles within a company are always consistent, and the large companies in Japan generally follow the same outline. These titles are the formal titles that are used on business cards. Korean corporate titles are similar to those of Japan.

Legally, Japanese and Korean companies are only required to have a board of directors with at least one representative director. In Japanese, a company director is called a torishimariyaku (取締役) and a representative director is called a daihyō torishimariyaku (代表取締役). The equivalent Korean titles are isa (이사, 理事) and daepyo-isa (대표이사, 代表理事). These titles are often combined with lower titles, e.g. senmu torishimariyaku or jōmu torishimariyaku for Japanese executives who are also board members. Most Japanese companies also have statutory auditors, who operate alongside the board of directors in supervisory roles.

Under the commercial code in Japan, Jugyōin (従業員) meaning the "employee", is different from Kaishain (会社員), meaning the "stockholders".

The typical structure of executive titles in large companies includes the following: {| class="wikitable" |- !English gloss !Kanji (hanja) !Japanese !Korean !Comments |- |Chairman |会長(會長) |Kaichō |Hoejang(회장) |Often a semi-retired president or company founder. Denotes a position with considerable power within the company exercised through behind-the-scenes influence via the active president. |- |Vice chairman |副会長(副會長) |Fuku-kaichō |Bu-hoejang(부회장) |At Korean family-owned chaebol companies such as Samsung, the vice-chairman commonly holds the CEO title (i.e., vice chairman and CEO) |- |President |社長 |Shachō |Sajang(사장) |Often CEO of the corporation. Some companies do not have the "chairman" position, in which case the "president" is the top position that is equally respected and authoritative. |- |Deputy presidentor senior executive vice president |副社長 |Fuku-shachō |Bu-sajang(부사장) |Reports to the president |- |Executive vice president |専務 |Senmu |Jŏnmu(전무)

|Senior vice president |常務 |Jōmu |Sangmu(상무)

|Staff |社員 |Shain|Sawon(사원) |Staff without managerial titles are often referred to without using a title at all |} +PersonnelClassificationEnglish glossKanjiJapanese管理監督者商人

使用者Administrator or merchantChairman会長KaichōVice chairman副会長Fuku-kaichōPresident会社長KaishachōVice president副社長Fuku-shachōSenior director and managing director (precedence depends on company and their roles)These titles have been deleted from the new company act, started to enforced from June 2006.専務Senmu常務Jōmu管理職商業使用人

使用者Manager or mercantilemerchant's or commercial servantGeneral manager本部長Hon-buchōDepartment manager部長BuchōDeputy department manager次長JichōSection manager課長KachōAssistant section manager課長補佐Kachō-hosaTeam leader or team manager係長Kakarichō従業員労働者

被用者

被雇用者Senior staff or chief (staff)主任ShuninStaff +ExecutivesClassificationEnglish glossKanjiJapanese役員ExecutiveDirectorIncluding daihyō-torishimariyaku (代表取締役), meaning "representative director", which is mandatory if the board of directors has been settled取締役TorishimariyakuStatutory auditor監査役KansayakuAccounting advisor会計参与Kaikei-Sanyo役員等Executives and etceteraExecutive director執行役ShikkōyakuAccounting auditor会計監査人Kaikei-kansanin The top management group, comprising jomu/sangmu and above, is often referred to collectively as "cadre" or "senior management" (幹部 or 重役; kambu or juyaku in Japanese; ganbu or jungyŏk in Korean).

Some Japanese and Korean companies have also adopted American-style titles, but these are not yet widespread and their usage varies. For example, although there is a Korean translation for "chief operating officer" (최고운영책임자, choego unyŏng chaegimja), not companies have yet adopted it with the exception of a few multi-nationals such as Samsung and CJ (a spin-off from Samsung), while the CFO title is often used alongside other titles such as bu-sajang (SEVP) or Jŏnmu (EVP).

Since the late 1990s, many Japanese companies have introduced the title of shikkō yakuin (執行役員) or 'officer', seeking to emulate the separation of directors and officers found in American companies. In 2002, the statutory title of shikkō yaku (執行役) was introduced for use in companies that introduced a three-committee structure in their board of directors. The titles are frequently given to buchō and higher-level personnel. Although the two titles are very similar in intent and usage, there are several legal distinctions: shikkō yaku make their own decisions in the course of performing work delegated to them by the board of directors, and are considered managers of the company rather than employees, with a legal status similar to that of directors. Shikkō yakuin are considered employees of the company that follow the decisions of the board of directors, although in some cases directors may have the shikkō yakuin title as well.

Senior management

The highest-level executives in senior management usually have titles beginning with "chief" and ending with "officer", forming what is often called the "C-suite", or "CxO", where "x" is a variable that could be any functional area (not to be confused with CXO). The traditional three such officers are CEO, COO, and CFO. Depending on the management structure, titles may exist instead of, or be blended/overlapped with, other traditional executive titles, such as president, various designations of vice presidents (e.g. VP of marketing), and general managers or directors of various divisions (such as director of marketing); the latter may or may not imply membership of the board of directors.

Corporate title

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