Best word for "owner" of a business/restaurant: 経営者, 事業者, オーナー?


Just as it sounds in the question. A friend wants to own a restaurant as a
goal, and I'm not sure what the best words are for translating that into
Japanese.

"Owner": I've seen entries in example sentences for 経営者, 事業者, and オーナー. Are
they all equivalent, are there different nuances?

"Own" (transitive verb): I've seen entries for ~を経営する and ~を所有する. Same
question: Are these all equivalent, are there different nuances?




Basically 経営する means _to own/run/manage (a company)_ and 所有する is much broader
_to own_ , which means the subject have rights to some property (land, car,
etc.).

So for a privately owned company, 経営者 = オーナー (= 所有者). For a listed company,
経営者 means CEO and オーナー means stock holders (which may be controversial).

Practically

  * オーナー in such sense is used for small business like shops or restaurants. It is also possible to say things like 車のオーナー= _the owner of the car_.
  * 代表取締役・社長 is more commonly used for CEO of a listed company (There could be difference among those, but it is less of language issue). 経営者 is more used to denote the 'top persons' of companies (private or not) in general.

事業者 is a term mostly used in the sense of _company, corporate body_. Its use
is restricted in specific contexts (e.g. legal). For example, when a
government mentions something about mobile network, 通信事業者 is used to mean
telecom companies (like Docomo or KDDI in Japan).

* * *

(added) In case of restaurants, オーナー and 経営者 are both fine. 経営者 may be
preferred in cases (1) they only manage a restaurant and all the cooking is
done by employees. or (2) they run a restaurant chain/multiple restaurants.




Basically 経営する means _to own/run/manage (a company)_ and 所有する is much broader
_to own_ , which means the subject have rights to some property (land, car,
etc.).

So for a privately owned company, 経営者 = オーナー (= 所有者). For a listed company,
経営者 means CEO and オーナー means stock holders (which may be controversial).

Practically

  * オーナー in such sense is used for small business like shops or restaurants. It is also possible to say things like 車のオーナー= _the owner of the car_.
  * 代表取締役・社長 is more commonly used for CEO of a listed company (There could be difference among those, but it is less of language issue). 経営者 is more used to denote the 'top persons' of companies (private or not) in general.

事業者 is a term mostly used in the sense of _company, corporate body_. Its use
is restricted in specific contexts (e.g. legal). For example, when a
government mentions something about mobile network, 通信事業者 is used to mean
telecom companies (like Docomo or KDDI in Japan).

* * *

(added) In case of restaurants, オーナー and 経営者 are both fine. 経営者 may be
preferred in cases (1) they only manage a restaurant and all the cooking is
done by employees. or (2) they run a restaurant chain/multiple restaurants.

