Franchising: A Case Study Of Alison's Bespoke Clothing Line - An Essay On Expanding Your Business.

Research on women entrepreneurs Challenges to (and from) the broader entrepreneurship literature?

Women Entrepreneurship Promotion in Developing Countries.

Challenges faced by women entrepreneurs

The provided case study is about the Alison a woman who has quit the job to start her own business, after conducting all market research she started a business of selling bespoke clothing range for women with one of her co-worker from the job as a partnership. The business was doing very good until they admit a new partner. After admission of new partner, various issues arise and business gets closed. Alison took the original name of the company a start doing business from home. By doing work from she get various benefits in additional her business is also doing good. Now Alison wants to expand the business t some major cities of Australia with the help of franchising. This report is designed to understand to give answer of three questions given at end of the case study.        

After the admission of new or third partner in the business the difference between the partners, the nature of business changes the budget of the company exceeds they lost the path for which they are known in the market. Because of all these issues the original partner of Alison dissolve the partnership and the business also get end. After the dissolution of partnership, Alison kept the original name of the business and start doing the work from her home. She is running the business by own she did not hire any staff member as she keep the less stock, because she want to keep focus more on the bespoke fashion. She did not open a shop so she can be at home and can spent time with her family. she set up the an online system, the system works online when once the client come for shopping Alison keep her clients measurement in the records. For the next time the clients can place there order online by selecting style and fabrics and with the help of their original measurement Alison make the clothes and save the valuable time of their clients. With this new technique, the home business of Alison is doing very well in the city now Alison is looking for expanding business at other major cities of Australia by establishing licencing or franchisees. It is been recommend to Alison to expand the business by using the option of franchising.

Franchising is a business relationship between the Franchisor ‘the owner of the business’ and the franchisee ‘the independent person’ (Nijmeijer, Fabbricotti and Huijsman, 2014).  The franchisor of the business gives the rights to the franchisee to distribute or market the products or services by using the original name for a fixed time period. In other words, Franchising is the continuous relation in which the franchisor provides a licence to do business at their desired place in addition the franchisor provide assistance in merchandising and management to the franchisee Reason why franchising will be a better option for Alison (Lee, et.al. 2015).  

Background of Alison's Bespoke Clothing Line

As the case study stated the reason, due to which the previous partnership of business get dissolved in the capital or budget involve. The lack of capital is the main or supreme barrier for the small business during expansion. Franchising arrive as the best option or alternative form of capital acquisition. The franchisee spend all money which is been required to open and operate a unit, it also allow companies to grow by using others resources (Beckmann and Zeyen, 2014). If Alison adopts the option of franchising, she can expand their business in major cities of Australia without spending any money o without making any investment.

Once the franchisee sign the agreement and make the investment in the business, they are not going to leave the business very easily. As discuses in previous paragraph the franchisee invest all money, that is why they are going to give their  100% to business because they will not want to lose their money (Garg, Priem and Rasheed, 2013). For Alison it will be very much benefited that she needs not to make any efforts for the success of the business. With the use of franchising option they are will be a long-term commitment will be maintain. One problem, which every business faces, is operating a single unit, so for businessperson the option of franchising is the best option. The franchisee will ensure that they will capture the market leadership position over their competitors.  

Alison did not hire a single employee when she start working at her home, but when she has to go for expansion she need to hire employees which will increase business budget. If she adopts the option of franchising she need not to hire a single employee, the load of hiring employees will be transferred to the franchisee (Kolesova, Fangmann and Cherepanova, 2015). The only work, which will remain with Alison, will be providing training to the hired staff of franchisee.

Franchising provide various advantage to the franchisors like they are not responsible for the day to day functions of the management and employees, the staff members are unknown form the franchisors and due to this they are not going to call them to solve their small issues (Brown, 2014). For Alison it is very beneficial that she can spend her quality time with her family.

As mention in upper stated paragraph the franchisee is responsible for the all the capital, expenses, and day-to-day function. To gain profits the franchisor will give their full efforts and with their efforts, the franchisee gets the profits without inputting any hard efforts. The profits of the franchising is totally depend on the work done by the franchisors like site selection, leases negotiation, local marketing, hiring, training, accounting, payroll and other human resource functions (Brown, 2014). To enhance the profit amount the franchisor can provide their full support.

The benefits of running a business from home

When at time of selling the business the combination of increased profitability, faster growth and increased organisational advantage will add value to the account of franchisors and provide the multipliers to the cost of the business. In current situation, it is not an option for Alison to sell the business, but this is also an advantage of franchising (Kolesova, Fangmann and Cherepanova, 2015).  If in future, Alison want to sell the business the three factors increased profitability, faster growth and increased organisational will add value to her business. The best advantage of the franchising is it reduce the risk of the franchisor, the franchisee is responsible for all investment in operation, purchasing inventory, hiring employees etc. in the whole the option of franchising will be best for Alison and by using this she can expend business without involving any risk and capital.  

When Alison stared a business of bespoke clothing, line in partnership the only downside that she face was she spent all of her time in the shop and did not have time to do something else. When she started operating her business from home, she felt that she is devoting her valuable time to her husband and her son. The son of Alison is very young and at this stage, he wants his mom to be with him.

It is expected from women that they will perform their prime duty of a homemaker and if they fail in performing their main/chief duty then a gap will be develop between the women and their family members (Ramadani, Hisrich, and Gerguri-Rashiti, 2015). Same situation can be happen with Alison there are three members in her family and if she expands her business, it will become hard for her to devote her time in doing household work. Moreover, due to lack of time devotion the gap between Alison and her husband can arise.  

She is a mother of a child while working at home, she is managing her life very effectively but when she expands, her business there might be a chance she will leave her home and open one retail store and to make the retail store will include a lot of time and efforts. She may juggle between the home, work, relationship and personal life.

There is a one big challenge, which every woman has to face in personal lives is, when their business reaches the heights are facing the male ego. It is one of the most challenging task for women to face male ego and it became very hard to manage when male counterpart as their life partners. Males do support their wives to go out and work, but somewhere they find it hard to accept the progress and achievement of women (Jennings and Brush, 2013). This problem can be arise a big issue in the life of Alison and very hard to manage.

The advantages of using franchising as a means of expansion

In previous business of Alison she face the problem of not having time to do something else in a life all the value able time of their life they are spending at shop doing work.  Due to that they have make a wrong decision of involving third partner in the business and because of that particular decision their business get shut down and their partnership get dissolved (Jennings and Brush, 2013). There might be a chance that she may make wrong decision in respect of expanding her business and due to that particular decision, her personal life will get distorted.

For expansion of business and to save the personal life, the option of franchising is best option by utilising this option for business expansion most of the challenge that Alison will face will get eliminated automatically.   

When the business of Alison collapses, she kept the original business name and adapted it to working from home. To make the business successful she used the option of online sale. In the online sale, she introduces the new model with the help of which her business will grow (Vossenberg, 2013).The online model involve that the females once they come to purchase clothes from Alison she keep the record of their measurement. When next time clients want to buy clothes they just need to select the style and fabric and with the help of their original measurement, Alison will make their clothes and deliver to their stated address. The business of Alison is not get failed somehow she mange to revive her business, profit got reduced but she safe money by doing work from home she need not to pay rent. At home, she keeps selected pieces she needs to hire employees. She realise that running business from home is the good option, as she can focus more on bespoke fashion and can spent time with her family.  

Alison face various difficulties in past regarding her business, but she handle the situation very smartly. She keep the original name of the company and start doing the business of bespoke clothing line form home. Hence saying that the operating business from home or out of shop is failure is wrong (Nawanir, Kong Teong, and Norezam Othman, 2013). By working from home, she spread the awareness about the clothing line in the market by adopting various techniques and with her hard work.

Alison is running a small-scale business and for business expansion, she selected an option of franchising. If she tackles it, right way she can certainly pump up her profits. There are few recommendations with the help of which she can establish a franchise:

How franchising will benefit Alison's Bespoke Clothing Line

Get organised: before adopting the option of franchise, it is important that, Alison think properly about the facts, market opportunities, customer behaviour related to franchise. When franchisees come to her, she should be ready with the operational plan to convince them to sign an agreement between them.

Hire an attorney: getting an advice of an expert is very important during the franchising process. Alison is very new for franchise so before entering into any contract she must take a advice from an expert.

Be picky: when it comes to pick and choose the franchisee it is much needed that Alison become selective. It is easy to find people with huge capital but it is hard to find a right people for the business.

Build and protect the brand: As a Franchisor for Alison the most valuable asset is her brand and it is important that he protect her brand at any cost.

Choose the right location: For expansion, it is very important that Alison choose the right location, and give franchisee to those people who are willing to establish their shop is those selected locations.

Find a mentor: it is important that Alison should find two or three people who will give her a right advice when she need.  

Provide support to Franchisees: it is very important that the Alison should provide support and assistance to the franchisees when they face problems in running their business (Koumparoulis, 2013).

Conclusion

To conclude, the business of Alison that she is doing from home is growing well it is great. It is great that she is thinking to expand her business. For business expansion, there are various options but the option that she has opted is very effective. The option that she has chosen is Franchising. To expand her business, with managing her personal life this option will consider be a best. In above stated points few recommendations are given with the help of which Alison can achieve her goal of success.     

References

Beckmann, M. and Zeyen, A., (2014). Franchising as a strategy for combining small and large group advantages (logics) in social entrepreneurship: A Hayekian perspective. Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 43(3), pp.502-522.

Brown, R.S., (2014). Double moral hazard and franchising: A dual case study approach. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 18(2), p.15.

Garg, V.K., Priem, R.L. and Rasheed, A.A., (2013). A theoretical explanation of the cost advantages of multi-unit franchising. Journal of Marketing Channels, 20(1-2), pp.52-72.

Jennings, J.E. and Brush, C.G., (2013). Research on women entrepreneurs: challenges to (and from) the broader entrepreneurship literature?. The Academy of Management Annals, 7(1), pp.663-715.

Kolesova, A.A., Fangmann, G.O. and Cherepanova, N.V., (2015). Problems and prospects of franchising development in Russia. Journal of Economics and Social Sciences, (7), p.4.

Koumparoulis, D.N., (2013). PEST Analysis: The case of E-shop. International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences, 2(2), pp.31-36.

Lee, Y.K., Kim, S.H., Seo, M.K. and Hight, S.K., (2015). Market orientation and business performance: Evidence from franchising industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 44, pp.28-37.

Nawanir, G., Kong Teong, L. and Norezam Othman, S., (2013). Impact of lean practices on operations performance and business performance: some evidence from Indonesian manufacturing companies. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 24(7), pp.1019-1050.

Nijmeijer, K.J., Fabbricotti, I.N. and Huijsman, R., (2014). Making franchising work: A framework based on a systematic review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 16(1), pp.62-83.

Ramadani, V., Hisrich, R.D. and Gërguri-Rashiti, S., (2015). Female entrepreneurs in transition economies: Insights from Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 11(4), pp.391-413.

Vossenberg, S., (2013). Women Entrepreneurship Promotion in Developing Countries: What explains the gender gap in entrepreneurship and how to close it. Maastricht School of Management Working Paper Series, 8, pp.1-27.