Chamber of commerce

A business network may take the shape of a chamber of commerce, board of trade, or similar organisation. Take, as an example, a community-based group of companies whose primary mission is to promote the commercial sector's interests. Local societies are formed by owners of businesses in towns and cities around the country in order to lobby on the business community's behalf. Members of the chamber are often local companies, and these members vote on who will serve on the chamber's board of directors or executive council, which is responsible for formulating chamber policy. After that, the board or council will choose a President, CEO, or Executive Director to oversee the organisation, in addition to workforce levels that are proportionate to its size.

A chamber of commerce may be either a voluntary or obligatory organisation of commercial enterprises that are members of a variety of professions and fields of endeavour. They are the spokesmen and spokespeople for the business community as a whole. They are not the same from nation to country.

In 1599, the city of Marseille in France became the location of the first chamber of business, which was known at the time as the "Chambre de Commerce."

65 years later, a second formal chamber of trade was established, most likely in Bruges, which at the time was a part of the Spanish Netherlands.

The Halifax Chamber of Commerce, which was established in 1750, has the titles of both the world's oldest English-speaking chamber of business and the oldest chamber of commerce in North America.

It wasn't until 1783 that the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce was established. However, the Hull Chamber of Commerce is the oldest in the UK, followed by the chambers of commerce in Leeds and Belfast, which are all located in what is now Northern Ireland.

Because it is a private, non-governmental organisation, a chamber of commerce does not play any part in the process of formulating or enacting the rules and regulations that apply to commercial enterprises. However, it may engage in lobbying to try to persuade lawmakers to enact laws that are more beneficial to corporations.