From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal.

Consortium is a Latin word, meaning 'partnership, association or society' and derives from consors 'partner', itself from con- 'together' and sors 'fate', meaning owner of means or comrade.

Contents 1 Economics 1.1 Examples 2 Law (torts) 3 Famous consortiums 4 See also 5 Sources and external links

Each participant retains its separate legal status and the consortium's control over each participant is generally limited to activities involving the joint endeavor, particularly the division of profits. A consortium is formed by contract, which delineates the rights and obligations of each member. Consortia are more common in the nonprofit sector. A more permanent joint activity is usually called an institute.

For example, Five Colleges, Inc. is one of the oldest and most successful consortia in the United States. The participants in Five Colleges, Inc. are: Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Another example of a successful consortium is the Five Colleges of Ohio of Ohio: Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Kenyon College, College of Wooster and Denison University. These consortia have pooled the resources of their member colleges and the university to share human and material assets as well as to link academic and administrative resources.

An example of a for-profit consortium was Airbus Industrie ("Airbus"). Formed in 1970, Airbus is one of the world's premier manufacturers of civilian airliners. Airbus is now owned by EADS. EADS itself is a merger of Aérospatiale-Matra of France, Daimler-Chrysler Aerospace of Germany, and Construcciones Aeronáuticas of Spain, which were originally separate partners in the consortium, owning 37.9%, 37.9%, and 4.2%, respectively. BAE Systems owned the remaining 20% but sold this in 2006. Airbus' status as a consortium means that profits accrue to the partner companies representative to their interests. Work is allocated on the same basis as profits.

Another example of a for-profit consortium is when a group of banks colloborate to give a loan. This is more commonly known as a syndicated loan.

In cases claiming negligence one may find 'Loss of Consortium' as an element or cause of action. In this case the consortium is of more an intimate matter but relates directly to the root of the word, consort however dethroned from majisterial association, unto all. The consortium (lost) in this context is that between spouses and specifically their mutual sexual fulfillments. For example, the alleged negligent party has allowed an unsafe circumstance in the workplace they manage to persist and there follows a worker injury and a physical impairment pertinent, a 'Loss of Consortioum' citation may be included in the allegations.

• World Wide Web Consortium
• Consortium Book Sales & Distribution
• The Open Group
• Six Companies builder of Hoover Dam (aka Boulder Dam)
• Freeview Consortium - British Digital terrestrial television service
• Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation
• SEMATECH
• Euclid University Consortium
• Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE)

• Consortium fraternitatis
• Consortium imperii (Roman sharing of imperial power)
• Consortium magistorum
• Joint venture
• Patent pool

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. passim

• ConsortiumInfo.org
• Consortium for Street Children