The point of this question is to help determine the degree of control over decisions by the management. The kind of ownership influences the choice of organizational structure.

The categories used are described below:

Private ownership
Refers to privately owned or privately held corporations were the owners have a substantial level of control over the way the company is run. Privately held organizations tend to be more centralized.

Incorporated
Refers to companies that are managed by a board on which the chief executive operating officer may or may not sit. These companies are often held and traded publicly and the influence of the board and that of investors tempers the level of control by management. Publicly held corporations tend to be more complex and require more coordination.

Public sector organizations
Refers to organizations in the public sector; these include government owned or controlled organizations. The government can be at any level: federal, national, regional, state, local or municipal. It is important to note that para-public or semi-public and nationalized entities fit into this category. Public and state owned organizations tend to be more formalized.

Subsidiary
Refers to groups that are not completely independent of their holding company. When the unit of analysis is a division of an organization it will likely fit into this category. Others that may fit into this category are departments, strategic business units, daughter companies, and, in general, entities that are tied to others by the exchange of goods or services and transfer prices.

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Medtronic case: Ownership