The most common business enterprise form in Germany today is the Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH). The GmbH offers entrepreneurs the flexibility of a partnership combined with limited liability, capital lock-in, and other traits associated with corporations. Authorized in 1892, the GmbH appeared during a period of ferment in German enterprise law and was an early example of the private limited-liability company prevalent in many economies today. The new form reflected challenges created by the corporation reform of 1884, problems in German colonial companies, and the view that British company law had put German firms at a competitive disadvantage. Significant sections of the financial and legal community harbored strong reservations about this legal innovation.

今天，德国最常见的企业形式是Gesellschaft mitbeschränkterHaftung（GmbH）。有限责任公司为企业家提供了灵活性的合伙企业，并结合了有限责任，资本锁定和其他与公司相关的特征。该有限责任公司于1892年获得授权，当时是在德国企业法的酝酿中出现的，是当今许多经济体中私人有限责任公司的早期例子。新形式反映了1884年公司改革带来的挑战，德国殖民公司的问题以及英国公司法使德国公司处于竞争劣势的观点。金融和法律界的许多部分对此法律创新持强烈保留态度。