In our daily lives, 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.
CEO vs Owner
The main difference between CEO and Owner is that CEO is the highest job title or rank in a company that is attained by a capable person whereas the owner is the person who hires or appoints people at higher levels of hierarchy. The owner usually possesses all the necessary rights over the company and the employees.
CEO is the job title or the highest rank in a company that 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, monetary rights, etc. The owner of the company is the least accountable or answerable to anyone in that company.
Comparison Table Between CEO and Owner (in Tabular Form)
Who is CEO?
CEO stands for chief executive officer who is the person with the highest job title or rank in the hierarchical order of a company. The CEO is not answerable to anyone in accompany except the board of directors. He/she is capable of taking decisions unilaterally without any advice or suggestions.
CEOs are usually replaced after a certain period in time 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 of the famous CEOs that 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 what he says or does. They are the people with complete 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 members of the board of directors who have the power to fire people even at the highest positions. Usually, owners are the founders of the company and are served with the utmost respect and subservience.
Some of the famous owners that 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 which is the highest rank or the job title in any organization whereas the owner is the individual who has complete control of the resources and the employees of the organization.
- CEO is the person who can be fired or scrutinized by the Board of the directors whereas the Owner is the individual who owns the means of the organization and can never be put to question by anyone.
- Owner is also the founder of the company most of the times but this is not the case with the CEO
- CEO works with a vision that targets to fulfill objectives for a short period whereas the owner is responsible to develop objectives for the long run.
- The owner of any organization stays the same most of the time whereas the CEO can be changed several times.
Conclusion
CEO and Owner are two terms that are often used in similar aspects but they differ in many contexts. CEO is the person who is at the top level of hierarchy in the job title or any organization whereas the owner is the person who has complete control over the rights of the organization.
CEO is the one who develops the strategies and is an important member of the recruitment process whereas the owner is the one who is the permanent member of the board of directors. The owner often recruits people at the higher ranks.
CEO can be fired at times by the board of directors whereas the owner can’t be because he has self proprietorship of the company.
References
- http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/owner.html