Entrepreneurship and small business management Essay - 1

Entrepreneurship and small business management - Essay Example (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 s tanding 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 afte r 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’