Daily, we seldom come across terms like CEO and Owner in the context of jobs and employment. These two terms are used interchangeably, but they imply different meanings altogether.
Key Takeaways
- A CEO (Chief Executive Officer) is the highest-ranking executive in a company, responsible for making decisions, setting strategy, and managing the organization’s overall operations.
- An owner is an individual or entity that holds legal ownership and equity in a business, which may or may not involve active involvement in the company’s management.
- The distinction between a CEO and an owner lies in their roles and responsibilities within a business. CEOs focus on management and operations, and owners hold a financial stake in the company.
CEO vs Owner
A chief executive officer (CEO) is the highest-ranking executive of a firm appointed by the board of directors who oversees the company’s overall management. Owner, as a job title, is earned by sole proprietors and entrepreneurs who have total ownership of the business.
CEO is the job title or the highest rank in a company and stands for Chief Executive Officer. The task of a CEO is to control the management and administration of the company by being the boss himself.
CEO directs and defines the objectives of the company.
The owner is the person who has complete ownership of the company and has all the rights over that particular company. These rights also include property rights, economic rights, etc.
The company’s owner is the least accountable or answerable to anyone in that company.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of comparison | CEO | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | CEO is the chief executive officer, the highest job title or rank in any company. | The owner is the individual who owns all the rights of the company and controls the employees. |
| Responsibility | CEO is responsible for fundraising, recruiting, and managing the company for better competition. | The owner is the person who hires people at the highest positions in a company. They have complete ownership of it. |
| Rights | CEO is the person in the highest position and can direct a group of people at the lower levels. He/she is not answerable to anyone except the board of directors. | The owner is the person who has all the rights reserved for him/her. They are not answerable to anyone in a company because they have the proprietorship of it. |
| Permanency | A CEO is a person who changes over time and can also be fired under certain circumstances. | The company’s owner can’t be fired because of his power and control. He/she himself has complete control of situations. |
| Objectives | CEO works by entailing a vision in mind. This vision might or might not be far-sighted. | The owner directs the employees to work for farsighted goals and objectives that can help the company in the long run. |
Who is CEO?
CEO stands for the chief executive officer, the person with the highest job title or rank in the hierarchical order of a company. The CEO is not answerable to anyone accompanying them except the board of directors.
He/she can take decisions unilaterally without any advice or suggestions.
CEOs are replaced after a certain period and can also be fired by the board of directors. They work with a vision to enhance the functioning of the company in the long run.
They control the administration and the recruiting processes in a company.
Some famous CEOs we know of are Sundar Pichai for Google, Jeff Bezos for Amazon, Mark Zuckerberg for Facebook, etc.
Who is Owner?
The owner is the person who owns and has complete control over the resources of a particular company.
The owner is never accountable to anyone in the company for his actions. They are the people with absolute power and control over the administration and management of the company.
The owner is the one who makes all the investments and controls the monetary affairs wherever needed.
They are the permanent board of directors members who can fire people even at the highest positions. Usually, owners are the company’s founders and are served with the utmost respect and subservience.
Some famous owners we know of are Anil Dhirubhai Ambani for the Reliance group, Tata Sons for the Tata Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla for the Birla Group, etc.
Main Differences Between CEO and Owner
- CEO refers to the chief executive officer, the organisation’s highest rank or job title. In contrast, the owner is the individual who has complete control of the resources and the organisation’s employees.
- CEO is the person who can be fired or scrutinized by the Board of directors. In contrast, the Owner is the individual who owns the means of the organization and can never be put into question by anyone.
- The owner is also the founder of the company most of the time, but this is not the case with the CEO
- CEO works with a vision that targets fulfilling objectives for a short period, whereas the owner is responsible for developing goals for the long run.
- The owner of any organization stays the same most of the time, whereas the CEO can be changed several times.
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