Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management - Essay Example

?Entrepreneurship and small business management Question Franchising is an agreement made by a franchiser, the main party, to a franchisee, the beneficiary, to use the trademarks and rights to conduct business under the franchiser’s name. The franchisee pays a small fee for the trademark and rights as well as pay a certain percentage. However, the franchise gets to gain in terms of name recognition, rapid expansion the business as well as good earnings at the end. The franchisee gains in terms of training, running of the business and promoting the products from the franchiser’s program. (businessdictionary.com 2013). I believe that acquiring a franchise is better than starting your own business because you benefit greatly from using the name of the franchiser to sell your products and in the end profit in a great way because of it. For example, KFC is a renowned international fast food joint. Its franchiser here gets to profit more than his competitors do simply because there is that standard that KFC has in the global world and it has kept in all franchises in the world. This standard gives an assurance to the locals or visitors that it’s the same quality of food sold there (Shepherd, 2009). Question 2 Metal supermarkets have been in business since 1985. Since then, it has grown in numbers due to its franchising family. Metal supermarkets have taken the franchises under their wings by providing support in establishing their business model and system in a suitable area. It also provides leadership as well as guidance of its system in an effort to maintain a standing position in terms of leadership across all franchises. Customer service is a key factor in Metal supermarkets and they ensure that, it is the key factor in all its franchise partners (Hodgetts, 2008) . They ensure this by giving them customer care training. In a bid to keep a progressive growth in its franchise business, Metal supermarkets ensures that they give grants to the most qualified candidates who meet the level that they have set for all franchises. Metal supermarket training is compulsory for new franchise and it is held in its corporate head office in Toronto. The training includes a 5-day classroom class, where they are taught about the operation of the business, the products, and how the system works. From there, they go to a 5-day in-branch training in Toronto, where they learn and build their confidence. 10-day job training is also provided when the franchisee’s Metal supermarket is opened ( Shepherd, 2009). The effort made by Metal supermarkets to its franchisee helps them in being successful. It has helped some who have not any prior knowledge of how to work with metals to be profitable in the end with some of them making more than a million a year. It also has given a good option to people who wanted to start their own metal supermarkets to join their franchise and in this way, the franchisee is assisted in starting up as well as given the necessary assistance in preventing basic mistakes, which most new business people go through . In the end, most of the franchisee makes a good amount of money unlike when they would have opened their own business because people trust the products that are sold by Metal supermarkets therefore customers trust the products being sold by the franchisee’s supermarket (Hodgetts, 2008). Question 3 Ian Parsons, a franchise owner of Metal supermarkets, West Bromwich, bought the franchise from its previous owner, who was retiring from the business. Ian parson thought of buying the franchise after weighing between looking for another job or buying the franchise. This is actually the main reason for him to buy the franchise. He used his savings and some cash from his property re-mortgage to buy the supermarket. The transition was smooth because he had worked in the franchise for 8 years and well conversant with the operation of the supermarket. He however had problems with accounting but the previous owner was able to assist him. He later went to Metal supermarkets’ Canada headquarter where he was given more training in point-of-sale, purchasing, managing inventories, the payable accounting, financial support, managing the business as well as customer relation. In the end, Ian Parson has become more determined in himself as well as stronger. He has able to steadily grow the business and his branch is ever n=busy supplying both large and small business with their products. He looks forward to making the branch more profitable in the future and nurture his daughter in taking over the business from him one day. Question 5 If I were to start my own business, I would prefer an entrepreneurial venture because I would like to be guided in the best way to start the business. My preferred venture is computer sales. Computers are advancing day by day and people are steadily transiting into using them. From the schools, hospitals, government offices, as well as NGO companies, computers are widely used in information collection, research process as well as storage. I would go for a franchise business because of the benefits that comes with being associated with the company. However, an independent small business is promising given the fact that it is all about how you market yourself. The profits will not be as good as a franchised business because when it comes to tendering, most companies prefer names that are already in the world market. They tend not to have faith in brief case companies. I would prefer being a HP appointed distributor because they are among the leading companies in the world. As per the example of Metal supermarket franchise of Ian Parson, one can tell that there is a lot more that you gain in the franchising than when starting your own business. In HP, I might get to visit their headquarters as well as test their latest products once they arrive. I would also help people who are starting up their business to have chosen the best computer, printer, scanner, or any other computer related product that they may want for their business. I would also look forward to being the most preferable distributor in the whole country by schools, organizations, hospitals as well as public institutions and get global recognition from HP Company. References Business Dictionary. (n.d.). BusinessDictionary.us. Retrieved December 4, 2013, from http://www.businessdictionary.us/ Hodgetts, R. M., & Kuratko, D. F. (2008). Small business management. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Shepherd, D. A., & Katz, J. A. (2009). Cognitive approaches to entreprenuership research (Illustrated ed.). 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