A consortium is a temporary or permanent union of independent business entities. It is formed on a voluntary basis. 
Goals
The organization of the consortium is carried out to coordinate the efforts of firms in entrepreneurial activity, a joint struggle for orders and their subsequent execution. The community is addressing various challenges. The main ones include the implementation of major targeted programs and projects, including environmental, construction, scientific and technical. These tasks can be performed by a consortium of enterprises from any form of ownership.
Structure
A consortium is a union in which the distribution of roles is carried out in a special way. Inside it, each participant works in the area in which he has reached the maximum technical level with minimum production costs. The leader coordinates their activities. He receives certain deductions for his work. A consortium is a community that can include companies of different sizes (small, large, medium) that want to participate in a project, but do not have independent capabilities for this. As mentioned above, membership in the union is voluntary. You can exit the community at any convenient time. Due to the fact that this community is a temporary association of enterprises, it does not receive legal entity status. However, its member companies remain legal entities.
An international consortium may be formed to conclude transactions in the global market for the provision of services, reconstruction or modernization of Western production. The validity of the agreement on the union of companies may be of long, short or one-time nature. After the completion of the planned project, the community ceases to work or is transformed into another business association.
Specific features
The main features that the consortium has are:
- The presence of an agreement on the formation of the union.
- Absolute preservation of the legal and economic independence of the member companies of the community, except for the activities to which its formation is directed.
- Lack of administrative and other structural elements, except for one apparatus (board of directors, for example).
The creation of consortia can be carried out without and with the formation of a legal entity. As legal form may be AO or otherwise economical society. Member companies of the union can simultaneously be members of several consortia, as they can immediately participate in two or more projects.
Benefits
Unions differ not only in coordination of activities and long-term development strategy, but also in a single investment policy. Despite the fact that consortium members do not lose their economic and legal independence, integration in this form has almost all the advantages of a law firm. Such an alliance can work very efficiently in market conditions and attract significant investments to carry out capital-intensive programs. Especially profitable, for example, is the oil consortium. However, often such unions do not bring the expected results.
Classification
The consortium may be open or closed. In the latter case, the customer concludes an agreement separately with each participant. In an open consortium, all members report to the leader in matters relating to the common goals of the union. Along with this they carry and joint liability for all community obligations within their shares. 
Subjects
Consortia can be created by banks, research centers, manufacturing firms, government agencies. Their formation helps to increase the commercial and technical competitiveness of members. The consortium combines the efforts of not only industrialists, but also financiers. This allows you to implement large-scale investment programs with maximum efficiency.
Leader's Tasks
He not only coordinates the activities of all participants. A leader is a person with whom a customer enters into an agreement. He is solely responsible for the implementation of the entire project. The leader represents the interests of the union to third parties and the customer. He carries out his activities within the framework of the powers delegated to him by the other participants. As for liability for acquired obligations, it is distributed among the companies included in the consortium. In addition to joint, it can be shared. Each member of the consortium provides funding for that part of the work that relates directly to it. Along with this, he assumes all technical and commercial risks that are associated with the performance of his part of the obligations. 
Varieties of unions
One of the distinguishing features of consortia is their internationalization. Modern unions are characterized by multinational representation. In international practice, financial consortia are most often formed. These include, for example:
- Banking community. It includes several companies united by one large financial enterprise. This union conducts banking, guarantee or credit operations, expanding the scope of its activities, searching for access to new world markets.
- Warranty Consortium. In this form of union, several companies engaged in different types of activities enter into an agreement in accordance with which the risk they take is distributed and its compensation is ensured.
- Guarantor Consortium - This is a group of banks led by the largest, which guarantees a loan.
- Subscription union ensures the implementation of the loan or the placement of shares.
- Export consortium It is a foreign trade union, which is created in a number of states to facilitate the trading operations of the companies included in it.
All of these communities can be both temporary and permanent. The former are formed for the placement of securities (bonds) of foreign and national loans in relatively small amounts. Temporary consortia are also created to conclude short-term transactions. Permanent unions of companies usually carry out operations to place large loans of one country or group of states on the turnover of securities of specific joint stock companies. They are also involved in large-scale investment, commercial and financial transactions.
additional information
Financial consortia are usually led by a banking monopoly or a large credit company. They select the consorts (parties to the agreement), develop the conditions for the organization of the company or the loan procedure. In addition, leaders carry out legal paperwork, enter funds into the stock quote, and also place bonds, shares and other securities among buyers. Each consortium member reserves the right to receive a commission. Its size is determined by the share that is involved in the placement of the loan, the value of the issue of shares.
Commission may also be proportional to the amount of securities sold.
Conclusion
The consortium in modern business acts as the most effective way to achieve your goals. Members of the union individually may not have these or those opportunities for obtaining large contracts.However, having united, they form a powerful community capable of high-quality execution of expensive and urgent orders, which require the consolidation of funds and efforts of financial, service, manufacturing, scientific and technical companies. Very often, such alliances are formed for the joint development of promising deposits. With continued operation, consortia are transformed into a more complex macrostructure.
