company at Business Franchise

McDonalds Corp has finally selected a new trans-fat-free oil for cooking its famous french fries after years of testing. While it has developed a healthier new oil, the company is still not saying when it will be used in all 13,700 US restaurants. It already trails competitors in committing to a zero-trans fat oil.

I’ve found that story in Digg popular and was impressed how many people consider this as an interesting news. Once again McDonald’s shows itself as a leading franchise company. You may feel differently about their food but their business model is respect worth.

read more | digg story

I was not writing here for a long time as I was too busy with my new hobby – FOREX trading.

But studying Forex I found that there are not only traders but also special forex franchise companies that try to combine the benefits of both businesses – franchising and currency trading. It’s rather interesting and worth of deeper study as I think

http://de.betheboss.com/franchise.cfm?s_booth=899437 - - the link to the German company that says that they managed to do it!

By the way GLOBAL FOREX TRADING characterizes itself as FOREX franchise. But when I tried to find the word “franchise” using the search option on their site they said “Your search did not return any results.”

The proverb says: “Tell me who your friend is, and I’ll tell you who you are”. I can say: “Tell me who your team members are, and I’ll tell you who you are”.

Think over the following questions:

Who are the team members?

Do you, the project manager, get to pick the team?

Or are you given a list of team members and expected to include them?

The next step in the Project Management process is to identify the people who will participate in the project.

Even if you have a rock-solid goal with clearly defined steps, you have little chance of succeeding without a group of people who possess the ability and perseverance to complete the steps; failure is imminent. Ensure that the project team can work together well and has the necessary skills to get the job done. Here’s a simple analogy to illustrate the point.

Suppose that you want to buy a franchise company that specializes in building bridges in remote locations. On the day of a new site survey for a bridge across a small canyon, every one of your engineers calls in sick. So, in a panic, you call the temp agency and ask to send over six of great engineers — pronto. To your delight, they arrive on time, and you fly them to the first potential site of the new bridge. When you point the engineers to the first possible bridge site, one of them pipes up, “You do realize that we drive trains, don’t you?”

Your company may have many talented people. Your job as a project manager is to identify the people who can finish tasks in the manner required and in the time allotted. Don’t consider including a technical wizard who returns from vacation the day the project is due. Don’t consider any potential team member who does not have the time to devote to the project. A great asset who can’t put the time and focus into a project is really not a great asset at all. Always consider all factors when determining whether a person can contribute to the team.

Ask questions! Remember: you don’t have all the answers. In fact, it’s extremely difficult to even know all the questions. (If you really do have all the answers, please e-mail me. I have some work for you.) Include proposed team member “interviews” as part of the selection process. You don’t have to hold a formal meeting. Sending an e-mail message or talking on the telephone works just as well. You just need to ask a few questions. Here are some questions you need to answer as you talk with prospective team members.

1. Are they available?

No one can do an adequate job if there is no time to work on a task. Overbooked, talented individuals are just as ineffective as available people with no skills. Be sure to explain what you need for your project and what the performance expectations are. Add at least 20 percent to any estimate you give. After setting proper expectations, ask for the person’s interest and availability. Make sure that each prospect’s supervisor agrees with this availability status before you make your final team selections.

2. Are they able?

Because you’ve outlined the whole project and listed all the individual tasks (don’t worry; we’ll go over how to do this later), you have a pretty good idea about what needs to get done. You know what you need from this prospect. Ask this person about her experience with similar tasks. If Stacey’s part of the project requires her to use a Dutch oven, it makes sense to find out if Stacey has ever used a Dutch oven. Ask earnest questions: “Stacey, your part in this project would be working with a Dutch oven. Tell me about your experience with Dutch ovens. What kind of dishes have you prepared with a Dutch oven? What kind of problems have you had cooking with a Dutch oven? If I asked you to cook a peach cobbler in a Dutch oven right now, could you do it? If not, what would you need to get the job done?”

3. Are they willing, eager, and optimistic?

The last thing your project team needs is a naysayer. There’s incredible momentum generated in a project when all the team members have good morale. It’s your job to keep the enthusiasm high. Don’t kill it from the start with a team member who doesn’t want to be on the team. Sometimes, you’re forced to put someone on the team, regardless of qualifications. In those cases, spend a little extra effort encouraging good morale and ensuring that any bad vibes don’t spread to other members. Simple positive reinforcement and recognition go a long way in such cases.

4. Do they have any questions?

Always remember to be quiet and listen at some point. Ask for any questions they have about the project. You can often uncover potentially damaging things you forgot by asking for input from other people. You can also get a good feel for what each team member considers important. Make notes of your conversations. Comments and questions at this phase can be very useful later in the project.

Keep in mind during these initial interviews that your purpose is to evaluate potential team members, not to select the team on the spot. Ask for any referrals and express genuine appreciation for their cooperation. Set a deadline for announcing the team and live up to it. The goal is to form a team for this project and have a pool of resources to draw from for later projects. It’s important to avoid alienating anyone during your team selection.

5. Inheriting a team

You may not have the luxury of selecting your own team. You may have the team member list handed to you. Do not skip the interviews! Even if you inherit a team, you still need to know what each member can do. The questions just covered can give you valuable insight into some cool skills available to you. You may also find that the team is incomplete. Ask to augment the team. Fill in the missing areas. Remember that you’re on the hook. If the project fails, it’s the project manager’s fault. Go in prepared.

If you do add new team members, take the time to make sure that each member feels equally important. You don’t want the original members to feel that you added to the team because you distrusted them. They were on the original team for some reason. Whether a team member made the team due to skill or being a relative of the CEO, use the skills you find.

The success of the project reflects directly upon you, the project manager, so make every effort to assemble the best team you can.

After you’ve outlined the process and set your team, you’re ready to draw the 20,000-foot view.

Don’t overlook the importance of personality to team composition. You may be spending lots of time together. Build the team with interesting and stimulating folks (as long as they fit your selection criteria) and you’ll be more productive - and have lots more fun!

Corporate 500: The Directory of Corporate Philanthropy. San Francisco: datarex corporation [sic].

Corporate Foundation Profiles. New York: The Foundation Center.

Corporate Giving Directory. Detroit: The Taft Group.

Directory of International Corporate Giving in America and Abroad. Detroit: The Taft Group.

National Directory of Corporate Giving. New York: The Foundation Center.

National Directory of Corporate Public Affairs. Washington, D.C.: Columbia Books, Inc.

Keep in mind: Corporations may give by means of a company-sponsored foundation (in which case they file Form 990-PF, as other private foundations do) or by means of a separate corporate giving program (in which case it may be more difficult to get information), or both.

 Corporate giving is almost always limited to programs of benefit to employees, their families, or residents of specific locations where the company conducts business. Geography plays a significant role in corporate grantmaking. Employee matching gift programs are increasingly common vehicles for giving.

 Cash donations are not the only type of corporate support. Ask yourself: Can the project be handled as a business expense rather than a grant? Would in-kind support such as the donation of equipment, use of corporate facilities, printing, design services, or access to executive expertise be helpful to my nonprofit organization?

When approaching corporate grantmakers, always consider the self-interest of the funder. A proposal to a corporation should emphasize how its support of your project will help it achieve its goals.

 Corporate Philanthropy Report and Corporate Giving Watch are two useful periodicals for keeping up to date on corporate giving.

I’ll speak about this using the equipment purchasing project. The company buys equipment at the beginning and to substitute the old one. So, the first thing you have to do is to determine your goals.

You could state the project goal as “Goal: To Buy a New Equipment.” That is way too general, though. Don’t stop with that. You haven’t set a deadline for buying the new equipment, you have no criteria for the productivity or capacity, and there is no mention of cost.

Hint: You need to examine the process involved in equipment buying to understand all the decisions you have to make to meet the goal.

One of the most common mistakes that can doom a project from the start is to state the goal in terms that are too general. By working through the equipment -buying process, you begin to see what you need to know before you can start to plan the project. It often helps to get some help from experts. In the equipment -buying example, there are at least two distinct steps of the process:

1. Select item for purchase.
2. Purchase equipment.

You can break each of these steps into multiple subcategories. For example, some subcategories for Step 1 might include the following:

• Identify desired productivity.
• Identify the other desired parameters.
• Identify budget constraints.
• Determine whether identified productivity and other desired parameters meet budget parameters.

After you outline your subcategories, proceed to purchase if you find equipment that meets your criteria. If not, select alternate equipment.

Subcategories for Step 2 might include the following:

• Determine payment method: pay cash or borrow money.
• If paying cash, complete purchase; if borrowing money, evaluate financing alternatives.

And the subcategory borrow money has its own subcategories:

• Find lending company.
• Think about leasing
• Borrow money from friends or family.

Your outline, or map, of the process can quickly expand to many levels. That’s okay. This process is called process mapping. You can see from this example that before you can plan the equipment -buying project, you need answers to the following questions:

• What characteristics do I want the equipment to have?
• How much am I willing to spend on the equipment?
• How will I pay for the equipment?
• By what date do I want to have a new equipment?

After you have answers to these (and perhaps more) questions, you can develop an outcome statement that clearly states the project goal. For example:

“My goal is to buy a new equipment with the productivity …., capacity …, size…, at a cost of $XXX,XXX or less, using an 80 % borrowed money by October 31, 2006.”

Businessmen write business plans for different purposes. I want to turn attention of my beloved readers that the size, structure and contents of the document can differ in compliance with the purposes. So, why do people write business plans?

-to evaluate the effectiveness of their prospective business or project;

-for potential investors and partners;

-to apply for a loan;

-to apply for a government preferences;

- they need to have a business plan according to the legislation of the country.

Let me characterize every purpose by turn.

It’s a very good idea to do some calculations and evaluations before you start a business or a project. Sometimes people underestimate the necessity of business plan “for myself”. They say: I’ll do it later, after my business reaches its capacity. Or: I don’t want to waste time for papers; I’ll better start making money. Or even: I’ve planned everything in my mind; why should I spend time for paper work. But it’s a big mistake when new business or project starts without preliminary planning. Why? Because when you do the calculations you summarize all the facts and can see the whole picture. You’ll better see all the threats and opportunities. You will see the prospective profit: maybe it’s too small for you? You will get not approximate (like $10,000-$20,000) but real amount of initial and current investment.

But the main reason why new business or project has to start with a completed business plan is hidden in the following: after you start a company you will be able to catch the moment when things go not as you plan. If you get less you’ll see it before it turns to real trouble. If the things go better you can instantly start thinking about other project and earn more money with your extra profit!

When you write a business plan for your potential investors and partners you need to take into consideration the main statement: THEY CAN’T READ YOUR THOUGHTS! What does it mean? If you want to prevent problems and misunderstanding in future present as many aspects of your business as possible in the business plan. Remember: things that are completely clear for you are not the same for all the people on the Earth. Write about conditions and terms of supply, methods of salary calculation, way you choose the materials and equipment. Spending time this way can help to avoid many problems with investors and partners in future.

Also you need to remember that the main purpose of investor is profit. Unlike creditors investors are not seriously interested in collateral and payback period. They want you to show so-called ROI (return on investment) – in rate they’ll get on their investment per months or per other period of time.

When you create a business plan to get an external financing in the form of a loan or credit you need to show that your business will be enough successful cover both interest and loan itself. Creditors are not interested about the life and results of your business after the payback period but they will be very happy to see a good collateral.

If your business plan is presented to government authorities while you are trying to get some guarantees or preferences you need not only to show the financial results of the business. Tell them about the additional taxes they’ll receive, about new jobs created, about any other positive influence your company will have on the community. And don’t forget to write about the ecological site of your business (it’s an advantage when you business improves the ecological situation in the region in any way).

There is a legal document that any franchisee must be supplied with before the signing of the Franchise Agreement. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has made such a regulation in order to provide franchisees with material information about operation of franchise system. UFOC is urged to help franchisees understand and analyze franchisor’s intentions.
The Uniform Franchise Offering Circular must be presented to franchisee 10 days before the signing of the Franchise Agreement.
Every franchise company in every industry should provide its prospective franchisees with that information divided by the following 23 categories:
1. The Franchisor and Any Predecessors
2. Identity and Business Experience of Persons Associated with Franchisor
3. Litigation History
4. Bankruptcy (i.e., any franchisees who may have filed)
5. Listing of the Initial Franchise Fee and Other Initial Payments
6. Other Fees and Expenses
7. Statement of Franchisee’s Initial Investment
8. Obligations of Franchisee to Purchase or Lease from Designated Sources
9. Obligations of Franchisee to Purchase or Lease in Accordance with Specifications or from Authorized Suppliers
10. Financing Arrangements
11. Obligations of the Franchisor; Other Supervision, Assistance or Services
12. Exclusive/Designated Area of Territory
13. Trademarks, Service Marks, Trade Names, Logotypes and Commercial Symbols
14. Patents and Copyrights
15. Obligations of the Franchisee to Participate in the Actual Operation of the Franchise Business
16. Restrictions on Goods and Services Offered by Franchisee
17. Renewal, Termination, Repurchase, Modification and Assignment of the Franchise Agreement and Related Information
18. Arrangements with Public Figures
19. Actual, Average, Projected or Forecasted Franchise Sales, Profits or Earnings
20. Information Regarding Franchises of the Franchisor
21. Financial Statements
22. Contracts
23. Acknowledgment of Receipt by Respective Franchisee

While surfing Internet I have met an article that made me overlook some of my views on franchise system.
It is called Marketing the Franchise and written by Edward N. Levitt, a franchise lawyer and partner with Gowling LaFleur Henderson LLP, who has over 30 years experience practicing franchise law, is a prolific writer, a noted lecturer and is currently General Counsel to the Canadian Franchise Association.
I used to consider franchises mostly from franchisees point of view. What should an entrepreneur do in order to find the right franchisor? What are the most thrilling franchise experiences in … (let’s say Australia)? What are the main rules to follow in order to be successful franchisee?
But franchise as any other system is a two-way highway. And franchisors also face a lot of problems during setting up and organizing a franchise system work.
Their problems are problems of other growth. Where should a company search for its franchisees? What are the criteria to choose the right guys to work with that business? How should business relationships be installed? Where are the responsibilities borders? What information and authority should be shared with franchisees? How should a company respond to improper franchisees?
All that topics are called franchise marketing. And a franchisor should be clear in his mind answering all that questions.
So the article is a must read to anyone thinking to install his own franchise system and highly recommended to anyone interested in franchises.

The answer is NO. I spent a lot of time reading different articles about how to write a business plan and other forms of planning. I found that many authors present the information such way that new businessmen would come to a conclusion that business plan is the only important thing for their business success. But it is not so!

Business plan is not a goal but only an instrument. This instrument helps to summarize the business, marketing, technological and financial information. It is a document. Or better to say it’s only a REPORT! Yes, a report!

What do I mean? Before starting your new business (doesn’t matter franchise or not) you have to carry out some preliminary studies. At first you check the idea itself. I wrote about evaluating the business idea in my previous posts:
Even in franchise business you HAVE to think over the idea
Declining an idea
Declining a business idea: last three reasons
Are you ready?..

If you come to conclusion that idea is good it doesn’t mean that you can start immediately. Certainly, you can but it can lead to big problems in future and even to failure of the prospective company. What you need to do is to continue to study the internal and external factors that will influence your business in future. These factors usually include marketing, production, and organizational, legal and financial spheres. And after you finish with the study you a ready to create a document that contains all your conclusions. This document is called… yes, you a write, a BUSINESS PLAN!

So, the goal is not to write a large business plan with colorful graphs and long tables. The goal is to collect the correct information about you prospective business and to make correct decisions based on this information.

I’m going to write more about different surveys that you prospective businessmen need to carry out and about how to choose the best strategy. Also I plan to show the examples of good and bad business plans and to explain the mistakes. Come back to my blog .

I have made a kind of short research in order to define the first business of different entrepreneurs. And you know I found a lot of franchise examples there.
First of all there are guys who had franchised there business from others. They were selling lemonade somewhere near their places. And that usually was an example of franchise using.
But I also have found a guy who had managed to build a franchise system by himself when he was just a teenager.
When Devon Rifkin was 10 years old, he bought lollipops from a nearby drugstore and sold them to other kids in his class at school. When business picked up, he got his parents to help by contacting the company that made the lollipops so he could buy even more and sell them to students and people in his neighborhood. Later, after he left eighth grade, he began selling entire boxes of lollipops to other kids so they could sell them, too. Soon, Devon was selling lollipops to four of five schools throughout his hometown. “It was great action, profitable, and of course made me very popular with my fellow classmates,” Devon says.
That was a real franchise company. And I bet that any guy with that system-oriented mind like Devon has should become a great entrepreneur. Do you think he is begging now?
That early success gives him extra confidence today running The Great American Hanger Co., a multi-million dollar business that makes clothes hangers for big companies like Bloomingdale’s and Nike.
His company three-year growth is estimated as 838.2% with revenue of $5.1 million.

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