Benefits of Opening a Franchise Hospice Facility as against Non-Franchise - Research Proposal Example

?Benefits of Opening a Franchise Hospice Facility as against Non-Franchise 0 Introduction 1 Background to the Study and ment of the Problem The hospice industry has been through lots of transitions. For instance the Gaebler Ventures (2011) note that “once underserved segments of the healthcare industry, more and more hospice service businesses are arising to keep pace with the aging U.S. population.” This tells of the essence that the hospice industry is serving both customers and entrepreneurs of today. From an entrepreneurial view point however, debate continues to surge on the best form of having a Hospice Facility in place. Whereas there are people who argue for franchising hospice facility, there is another school of thought that believes that hospice facility should be started from the scratch. Indeed, the fact that there are two schools of thought means that in each case, there are associated benefits and corresponding demerits. To ordinary citizens and particularly the ageing, their concern will continue to be for them to receive the very best of healthcare service from hospice facility operators. It is important to state however that in the midst of managerial and organizational challenges resulting from the wrong choice of a mode of operating a hospice, an investor or entrepreneur may be underpinned with poor service delivery to customers over a very long period of time (Muhammad, 2009). This brings out the need for individual entrepreneurs to carefully assess the weights behind each of the forms of having hospice facility in place before deciding on one of the choices. This research work therefore seeks to identify the benefits of opening a franchise hospice facility as against non-franchise so that entrepreneurs will be well informed in their selection decisions, basing their decisions on factors that best suit their immediate premises. 1.2 Research Aim This research work will be embarked to identify the benefits of opening a franchise hospice facility as against non-franchise hospice facility. To achieve this overall aim, there should be some specific objectives that should be achieved first. The over all achievement of the specific objectives would constitute the achievement of the research aim. 1.21 Specific Objectives 1. To identify the various options for owning a hospice facility that are at the disposal of an entrepreneur. 2. To assess the various ways in which franchise hospice facility would be advantageous or disadvantageous to an entrepreneur 3. To assess the various ways in which non-franchise hospice facility would be advantageous or disadvantageous to an entrepreneur 4. To find various factors that should be considered in the opening of the hospice care facility 5. To come out with recommendations on the method of opening of the business 1.3 Significance of the Study Successful completion of the research work shall be of immense benefit to several groups of persons. Some of the specific benefits include: 1. Entrepreneurs will be well informed on the right method of opening a hospice care facility that would best suit their needs. 2. As entrepreneurs make the right selection regarding the method of opening hospice care facility, they are sure to have formidable corporate and institutional financial base with which to expect profits (Muhammad, 2009). 3. A profit making hospice is likely to be a well managed and well equipped hospice care facility that would address the health needs of the populace, especially the ageing. 1.4 Research Questions The researcher puts forward the following research questions to serve as guidelines for the conduct of the research; especially in secondary data collection where data shall be sought from existing literature. The questions are: 1. What are the various methods of starting hospice care facility? 2. How does each of the methods of starting hospice care facility serve as an advantage or disadvantage to the entrepreneur? 3. What factors should inform individual entrepreneur’s decision on the selection of franchise hospice facility or non-franchise as each of them has their own benefits and shortfalls? 4. In what ways can an entrepreneur maximize the business and corporate opportunities available to achieving a well resourced and well managed hospice care facility? 2.0 Theoretical Studies and Background Literature Unlike most other healthcare sectors, Sulmasy (2003) laments that most theories in literacy does not capture this all important area of healthcare. Sulmasy (2003) is particularly worried about the absence of healthcare justice for the hospice industry. To this effect, he writes, “Most theories of health care justice account inadequately for hospice.” He opines that this disregard has existed because people consider death as a natural external force that can hardly be fought. Sulmasy’s assertion not withstanding, there are researchers who have identified a lot of benefits associated with running hospice care facilities; especially if the facility is run under the right corporate principles. Current research favor the belief that the mode of starting a hospice care facility can greatly influence the business returns that an entrepreneur would make. In this regard, two major modes of starting the facility are advocated. These are franchise and non-franchise. Franchising has generally being described as the acquisition of an existing company and that in America today, franchising is bigger than ever and the career choice of even fresh college graduates Smith (2009). Non-franchise, which is the opposite of franchise means starting a business or company from the scratch. Depending on the conditions and factors available to an entrepreneur, franchising hospice care facility comes with a number of benefits. First, a franchised company eliminates opening bureaucracies such as recruitment, placement and on-job training. In this sense, Goldberg (2011) states that the franchisee benefits from “shorter time to opening; initial training and ongoing support; assistance in finding an optimal site.” This means that franchising creates a ready-to-take environment for investors. Secondly, franchising makes room for mentorship as Smith (2009) notes that “franchising is following someone else's path to success.” This path of success includes the use of human capital, customers, competitive advantage and existing publicity. Finally, franchising allows for continuity in business plans, culture and ideas. Indeed this is very important because not all customers are able to adopt easily to new business cultures. All these points not withstanding, franchising have its own demerits in a number of ways. First, it demand huge capital to start and therefore cannot take place in the absence of enough financial capital. Again, franchisee may not have enough room to operate as desired as Gaebler Ventures (2011) notes that there are operational restrictions such that “these restrictions can take a variety of forms including limitations on products, pricing, employee performance and policies, territory, marketing, and other areas critically important to the success of your business.” With regards to non-franchise, a logical conclusion can be drawn on its advantages and disadvantages by arguing that the advantages associated with franchise tend to be demerits with non-franchise and vice versa. The following specific benefits can however be pointed to in literature. First, there is so much freedom to operate that the hospice care owner would have the benefit of becoming innovative and initiative with new and modern ideas without thinking about any restrictions in place. It is against this backdrop that the Business Filling (2011) posit that non-franchising allowing you to have more flexible hours to plan for the growth of the business. In an era when the hospice business has been identified to be a glooming one, job security becomes an important point for discussion as non-franchising eliminates the possibility of being fired and assures job security. The Marketing Treasure Hunt (2011) only advises that “you just need to make sure that your business runs smoothly and you would not end up in any kind of trouble.” Finally, non-franchising allows for gradual establishment of the hospice facility and so can be started even with very little capital. The demerits of non-franchising have been found to include the responsibility of bearing financial risk, legal risk and corporate risk all alone (Marketing Treasure Hunt, 2011). Again, it would not allow for a speedy development of the hospice facility especially if there is the absence of sufficient funds. 3.0 Research Design Naming experiment; survey; grounded theory; ethnography; action research and case study as the major forms of research design, (Saunders et al., 2003) explains that a research design is the tool or tools the researcher employs for addressing the research question. In other words, the research design determines how the entire research shall be conducted. The proposed research design for the selected research topic is grounded theory. Through grounded theory, the researcher shall primarily focuses on extracting knowledge through phenomenological literature research. The researcher finds grounded theory appropriate for this research because it makes room inductive reasoning whiles suiting the gradual establishment of research assumptions and propositions (Husey and Husey, 1997). The selection of grounded research not withstanding, the researcher shall also employ a primary research strategy of in-depth interviews to collect data. 3.1 Sampling and Sampling Technique Sampling refers to the process of selecting a sizeable number of people out of a larger population to serve as participants in the data collection process (Lane, n.d). The researcher will therefore have direct contact with this group of persons, who will contribute mainly through a question and answer section in the in-depth interviewing for primary data collection. The sampling technique to be used in selecting the sample size shall be purposive sampling technique. Trochim (2006) opines that purposive sampling technique is a type of non-probability sampling technique that permits the researcher to select people by personal discretion. Purposively sampling technique is non-probability because not all people in the locality of the research area have an equal chance of becoming part of the sample size. An advantage associated with purposive sampling is that the researcher gets the most appropriate participants who would serve the purpose of helping answer the research questions and by extension, achieving the research aim. The participants for this research shall mainly be industry players in the hospice care business. By a purposive means, both those who started by franchise and those who started by non-franchise shall be included. 3.2 Research Instruments Interview shall be the major research instrument to be used by the researcher in collecting data for the research. This shall be an in-depth interview and shall involve one-on-one question and answer section with participants. One-on-one interview shall be selected over group interview to allow for independence in supply of answers. 3.3 Primary Data Collection Primary data shall be collected from participants in the sample group through interview. The researcher shall limit the primary data collection to finding personal benefits that industry players in hospice care facility ownership have enjoyed over the years. These benefits shall be related to whether or not their kind of facility is franchise. Data shall also be sought on challenges that these entrepreneurs have faced over the years. Furthermore, data shall be collected on how the entrepreneurs have maximized their benefits and overcome their challenges over the years. 3.4 Secondary Data Collection Secondary data shall be collected mainly from books, business journals and internet websites. The secondary data to be collected will be complementary and supplementary to the primary data collected. This is to imply that the researcher shall undertake personal qualitative analysis of primary data based on the secondary data collected. This will make the researcher’s opinions in the qualitative data analysis more empirical, valid and reliable. 3.5 Data Analysis Plan Qualitative data analysis and quantitative data analysis shall both apply in this case. However, the major data analysis procedure to be employed will be qualitative data analysis. This is because as a grounded theory research, not much statistical data shall be collected from respondents. Inductive reasoning and phenomenological literature research shall be the most sought after goals rather than statistical data collection. REFERENCE LIST Daniel P. (2003). "Health Care Justice and Hospice Care," Hastings Center Report Special Supplement 33, no. 2 (2003), pp S14-S15. Gaebler Ventures (2011). Disadvantages of Franchise Ownership. Retrieved October 9, 2011 from http://www.gaebler.com/Disadvantages-of-Franchise-Ownership.htm Gaebler Ventures (2011). Opening a Hospice Services Business. Retrieved October 9, 2011 from http://www.gaebler.com/Opening-a-Hospice-Services-Business.htm Goldberg E. (2011). The Benefits of the Franchise Model. Retrieved October 6, 2011 from http://www.franchising.com/howtofranchiseguide/benefits_of_the_franchise_model.html Hussey, J. and Hussey, R. (1997) Business Research: A Practical Guide for Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students. Basingstoke: Macmillan Business. Lane D. (n.d). Sample Size. HyperStat Online Contents. Retrieved October 8, 2011 from http://davidmlane.com/hyperstat/A104571.html Leedy, P. D., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010). Practical Research: Planning and Design (9th ed.). Marketing Treasure Hunt (2011). Starting Your Business: Advantages and Disadvantages. Retrieved October 9, 2011 from http://www.marketingtreasurehunt.com/blog/bussiness-guide/2009/starting-your-business-advantages-and-disadvantages.html Muhammad G. R. (2009). Corporate Decisions in the Hospitality Industry. PrintMark Press Limited: Durban Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2003) Research Methods for Business Students. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Smith S. (2009). Benefits and Responsibilities of Franchise Owners. Retrieved October 7, 2011 from http://sandysmith.suite101.com/benefits-and-responsibilites-of-franchise-owners-a62248 Trochim W.M. K (2006). Nonprobability Sampling. Retrieved October 9, 2011 from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/sampnon.php Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc. Read More