5 Bizarre Inquiries and Facts About Corporations

French citizens and tourists must drive with a portable Breathalyzer. Surprisingly, Jamaica, the country producing Rastafarianism and Bob Marley, outlaws the consumption and production of marijuana. And don’t bother feeding the pigeons in San Francisco because, since these birds spread disease and damage property, it’s illegal to feed them. These three random facts have three things in common… They’re random. They’re weird. And, yes, they’re bizarre. Did you know corporations have weird, bizarre, and random facts (and inquiries) too? (This may make you think differently the next time you do an Alaska secretary of state business search.) Read on to find out what they are…why the US has the most multinational corporations. Not to mention, how corporations, such as PayPal, put silly business names on the map. That and more coming your way.

Inquiry: #1: Corporations: We Seem to Love Them If We’re on Top

Americans have a fluctuating love-hate relationship with corporations. Part of the reason may lie with having a culture obsessed with winning, otherwise known as the American winning mentality. In short, this boils down to what a Psychology Today article mentions: “Our obsessive focus on winning in our culture to some degree reflects our belief that competition is good and the best way to gauge the value of our individual and collective enterprise, particularly in relation to business.” So, if American corporations are on top, as was the case after 1945 when the US was the only developed nation not in ruins and without challenge, we believe we (aka America, aka American corporations) are the best and are providing the highest value. Also, as research indicates, the more competition there is, the less likely we are to feel happy. Putting this into perspective, it makes sense why many Americans thought more highly of corporations during the post-world war II era, where there was virtually little to no competition. Of course, American corporations did eventually get challenged by Japanese and German enterprises in the 1980s and 90s. (And know that this is but one possible reason for our up and down relationship with corporations.)

Inquiry #2: Our Ancestors May Be Responsible for American Entrepreneurial Spirit

The US is one of the top countries with the most multinational corporations. When you think about why that is, one possibility that stands out is our rugged individualism culture, which worships underdogs and rags to riches dreams. In fact, a Forbes article claims that this is one of the reasons—our love for all things Rocky, Rudy, and Jerry McGuire—why Americans make the best entrepreneurs. And it doesn’t stop there; American millennials are starting their businesses earlier—try 8 years earlier—than the generation before them, which started at 35. This persisting startup culture may have started from America’s first settlers and immigrants coming to the land of milk and honey. Put it this way, these were the individuals who were risk takers—a trait that’s nearly synonymous with entrepreneurship. It isn’t surprising then that we live in a culture that celebrates risk. In which case why not start up a corporation?

Fact #1: More People in China See Corporations as a “Source of Hope”

That’s 84%, to be specific, according to a survey. Currently there are approximately 1.3 billion people living in China right now. If we factor in this statistic, 84% of 1.3 billion means almost 2 billion Chinese citizens think highly of corporations. Add to this that, according to The Atlantic, the Chinese public is 10 times less likely than those in the US to view corporations as being more powerful than the government. Perhaps this differing perspective is one of the reasons why corporations in China are getting more support than in the US?

Fact #2: Why Some Startups Choose to Incorporate

One word: investors. Yes, a majority of startups need investors. Which is why incorporating may seem like an appealing business entity. Unlike LLCs, which give membership but not shares, the corporation structure makes it possible for venture capitalists to have stocks in the startup. This is also a reason why it’s attractive for employees to work for a startup corporation, as they can get shares more easily.

Inquiry #3: Baby Sounds and Compound Words Becoming a Trend for Tech Startup Names

Etsy… Hulu… According to a TIME article, these are some famous “baby sounding” corporate names you’re probably familiar with. The article also lists several compound corporate names, PayPal and Facebook being two of them. What’s up with tech startups using baby sounds and compound words as names? Well, for one, back in the day coding made it impossible to put a space between two words. So, from this, you have corporations like PayPal and Facebook. Then, thanks to Google, we have (baby sounding?) business names that have become their own verbs. Perhaps companies want a name that stands out as much as Google so they choose names that sound similar? That, and there’s less “.com” names to choose from. Then, you have to take trademarking into account, which means a business name can’t be the same as any other business nationally and, depending on the scale, internationally.

Bonus: Fact #3: ENTPS are Most Likely to Leave the Corporate Structure; (ISFPs Tend to Stay)

According to a survey, 13.5% of ENTPs (one of the 16 personality types of the Myers-Briggs personality test) have left the corporate world to pursue self-employment. This makes them the personality most likely to walk away from the 9-to-5 corporate grind, with ENFPs coming in second (10.8%). According to the Business Insider article, extroversion is partially the answer for this. A study found that children who scored high on the Children’s Scale for Courage had a high likelihood of being extroverted. Maybe this is why ISFPs, which are almost the opposite personality type of ENTPs scored the lowest in self-employment status?

Thinking of Conducting an Alaska Secretary of State Business Search?

Or any other business name search for that matter. You just might be surprised how many corporate startups there are on sites (such as the Massachusetts secretary of state business search), as well as how many baby sounding and compound names you’ll see.

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