THE JOURNEY SO FAR...

I never knew about ‘BLOG’, until my instructor announced that we’ll be using it in the course (Entrepreneurship). I thought to myself, “oh no! This is one of those boring and time consuming exercises”, coupled with the fact that I’d never fancied social networking. I’ve always considered them a waste of time and a big distraction, especially because I’m still a student. However, as we made progress in the course, and as I continued to create and publish more and more posts, I began to experience the brighter side of social networking as a student.

Aside the fact that it enabled me share my ideas and opinion about topics related to entrepreneurship (which was the main essence of opening the blog account), it has also helped me to realize and improve on my creative ability, in terms of writing and the use of colors in designing web pages.

I was also fascinated by the fact that people from across the globe got to view my blog, and this kept me on my toes as I was motivated to make every subsequent post more interesting and creative, in order to keep the visitors coming.

I must confess that it wasn’t all a bed of roses, as there were times when I was simply out of ideas or was too exhausted to create any post. However, for the sake of my dear page viewers and follower(s), I didn’t let these reasons deter me from publishing posts as often as possible, hence my heart goes out to all of you who visited and followed all the way.

 

This may be my last post as the course has come to an end. I must confess that I didn’t expect so many page views, because I felt my work was amateur, but I got just over a hundred! This is why I strongly encourage upcoming business owners and already established ones who have not yet adopted this medium of advertisement, to do so. This will go a long way to inform the public about the day to day activities of the business (just a piece of advice)

I never thought I'ld be saying this, but I honestly found the course quite interesting and exiting. At first I assumed it was going to be as boring as the business class I used to attend during my high school days, however, it turned out to be the direct opposite of what I had assumed, and I must say that this was possible because of the creative and practical approach my instructor used in the course. 

This experience has been quite a memorable one, and I owe it to you all. Keep blogging! 

  

FRANCHISE

hey fellas! its been quite a while since my last post, right? well, the thing is I've been quite preoccupied with school work, quite hectic! trust me, you wouldn't want to be in my shoes. for the past two weeks in my entrepreneurship class, it's been  FRANCHISE, FRANCHISE AND MORE FRANCHISE!so I'm gonna have to follow the train, thus I'll be discussing on the concept of FRANCHISE.

                                                           DEFINITION OF TERMS
WHAT IS A FRANCHISE?
“A franchise is any arrangement in which the owner of a trademark, trade name or copy right has licensed others to use it in selling goods and services.” (Donald 147)

WHO IS A FRANCHISEE?
‘A franchisee is the purchaser or buyer of a franchise.” (Donald 147)

WHO IS A FRANCHISOR/FRANCHISER?
“A franchisor is the seller of the franchise.” (Donald 147)   

 ALTERNATIVE DEFINITION OF TERMS
“Á franchise is a business arrangement in which the developer/owner (the franchiser) of a business concept grants others (the franchisees) the license or right to own and operate a business based on the franchiser’s business concept.”
A franchiser is the owner of the business organisation
A franchisee is the person granted the license to own business.

           BENEFITS OF FRANCHISING
TRAINING AND GUIDANCE:  The franchisee receives adequate and valuable training and advice from the franchisor.
A PROVEN TRACK RECORD: for an individual who is buying a franchise from a long existing company, he is rest assure that the business is going to thrive well, especially if the company has many franchises that are also doing well.
 BRAND NAME APPEAL: An individual who buys franchise from a popular and successful company will be at an advantage.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE: The franchisor might be willing to offer some sort of financial assistance to the franchisee, to start up his franchise and to payback only after the business has begun running smoothly.

Now don’t be carried away by the mouth watering benefits of franchising!

 
          DISADVANTAGES OF FRANCHISING

EXHORBITANT FRANCHISE FEES: With the numerous fees that accompany franchising, one begins to wonder if owning a franchise is the most convenient business idea.
FRANCHISOR CONTROL: every business owner would like to be in control of his/her business, however this is not entirely possible for the franchisee because the franchisor would need to monitor the various units to ensure that uniformity is maintained. Franchisees who do not comply, risk losing their licenses.
UNFULFILLED PROMISES: This is especially exhibited by less successful and less popular franchises, whereby they do not fulfill promises made to the franchisees. This makes business difficult for the franchisees and those who complain risk losing their licenses.
                          
                                                   INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISES

AARON’S INC: Aaron’s is a company that deals in furniture, electronics, appliances and computers. They are involved in sales and lease ownership, corporate furnishing and manufacturing (Aaron's, Inc. Company Information).

ROCKY MOUNTAIN CHOCOLATE FACTORY: Rocky Mountain is an international franchise based in the U.S.A., Canada and the United Arab Emirates. They deal in chocolate candies and other confectionary products, which are delivered fresh by its refrigerated trucks (Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory).

IN NIGERIA; Tantalizer is a fast food restaurant located in Ibadan, Oyo state and also in Lagos.

MY VIEW ON INTRAPRENEURSHIP.

Hey Blogger Buddies! How has your week been? I'm always happy to share my acquired knowledge with you, and this week is no exception. I hope you've been enjoying my blog? During the week (on Tuesday to be precise), we learnt about individual(s) called intrapreneurs. They are involved in corporate entrepreneurship.
Corporate entrepreneurship (intrapreneurship) is a process whereby individual(s) in an organisation, without been instructed to do so, create new ideas or inventions geared towards improving the status quo of the organization and of themselves, and to make profit.

GREAT INTRAPRENEURS

                                                                                            

 
                                                                                                      

I.    Digital light processing technology.  

       Intrapreneur: Larry Hornbeck,

       Company: Texas Instruments (TI)
       Year Launched: 1996
 

  Larry Hornbeck and his team worked in TI using tiny mirrors to redirect photons, and in the process invented the Digital Micro mirror Device (DMD) in 1987. The device was initially used to print out airline tickets however the government’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency made a research in high definition video and awarded TI and other manufacturers a multi-million dollar contract to work on the issue. With Hornbeck leading the group, TI executives started an internal venture called, Imaging Venture Project. Hornbeck discovered that DMD technology could actually reduce the size and cost of the video projectors, which were at that time weighing 40 to 50 pounds and cost $15,000 to $18,000. Soon the digital light processor became popular and helped in changing the movie theatre business, and allowed Texas Instruments to compete in HDTV market. Hornbeck was given an award for outstanding achievement in engineering development in 1998. (Jake)

II.    “Post-it” notes.

Intrapreneur: Spencer Silver and Art Frey
Company: 3M
Year Launched: 1980
The ‘bottlelegging’ policy allows employees to use some of their office time to be innovative and this was how Spencer, a 3M scientist, was able to invent the ‘Post-it’ in 1968. At first, he was not sure of how to use it, and only gave seminars on the advantages of his idea (the adhesive) to his co-workers. After five years, his colleague, Art Frey noticed that his bookmarks were always falling from his hymn book during choir practice he then recalled Spencer’s seminars, hence the post-it was conceived and is now widely used in homes and offices. (Jake)  

If you still cannot distinguish between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, then the points below might be of help to you: 

a)    Entrepreneurship involves one individual creating ideas and working on them, while Intrapreneurship may involve more than one individual’s innovation.
b)    The entrepreneuer does not collaborate with any organisation, while intrapreneurship is done in collaboration with the established organization where the innovator(s) work.
c)    In entrepreneurship, the profit made is solely owned by the entrepreneur, while in intrapreneurship, the profit is jointly owned by the individual(s) and the organization.
d)    Entrepreneurs make their own decisions, while in intrapreneurship the innovator(s) have to seek the opinion of the management before implementing their idea.
e)    In entrepreneurship, the individual sponsors his/her business, while in intrapreneurship, the proposed plan is sponsored by the company.
f)    An individual may have to leave his/her current work place to become an entrepreneur, however, an employee(s) does not have to leave his/her current work place in order to be an intrapreneur; unless the proposed plan is not agreed with by the organization, in which case he/she may decide to set up his/her own business and thus becomes an entrepreneur