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Ilan Alon
GLOBAL FRANCHISING OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT: Cases in International and Emerging Markets Operations list price: $99.99 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (April 9, 2012) ISBN-10: 0132884143 reviewed by Patrick Killough 02/06/2012 WORK IN PROGRESS (1) biblio.com not listed 01/01/2012 Would you recommend this book to other readers? review: =-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-= (2) lunch.com 02/01/2012 name of review: If you are a franchisee you are "in business FOR yourself but not BY yourself" rating: * * * * review: Preliminary remark: Ubergizmo seems the right part of lunch.com to place this review because serious academic case studies of marketing are examples of applied (social) science, part of the domain of ubergizmo as I understand ubergizmo. =-=-==-==-=-=-=-=-=-=- The VINE program of amazon.com recently sent me its monthly list of items to receive at no cost to me to do no holds barred honest assessments. I selected three offerings: a biography of King Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch of England, a curry sauce mix and Ilan Alon's pre-publication book GLOBAL FRANCHISING OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT: CASES IN INTERNATIONAL AND EMERGING MARKETS OPERATIONS (April 2012). Why did I pick a book
on franchising?
I spent my junior officer and mid-career officer years in the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State helping American businessmen make money overseas. Some of what they did was to offer franchises (be a franchisor) of their trade marks, product or service lines and proprietary knowledge to business people in countries like Afghanistan, Viet-Nam, Pakistan, Germany and Iraq. More recently, I have watched one of our sons take two business degrees related to franchising and to become a full time self-employed franchise professional. Much of what I now know of franchising comes from conversations with him and from books that he has recommended from his own teaching and lecturing. So who is Ilan Alon and
what is in his GLOBAL FRANCHISING OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT?
He is a PhD professor at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida and visiting scholar at Harvard's Kennedy School. He has taught franchising in China, Italy and India. He has published prodigiously on his favorite subject. Even a very few pages spent reading his newest book amply demonstrates that Ilon Alon communicates briskly, clearly and in ways that make his lessons stay with you. The focus of GLOBAL FRANCHISING is franchising outside the United States, a country with "about 785 thousand establishments with an output that approaches $740 billion ... (accounting for) nearly 18 million jobs (1 of 8) and a $2.1 trillion contribution to output" (Introduction). Not only does Alon in this book give most attention to other countries, he focuses on riskier, sometimes younger, markets in four either rapidly emerging or very young economies: Croatia, Korea, China and Indonesia. Professor Alon looks at the mindsets of potential franchisors and franchisees: what is in it for both sides of the agreement between two independent parties. He looks at the generally weak legal frameworks for franchising in developing markets, the risks to both parties in the relationship and the need for people on the ground in the developing market under consideration to bridge language and cultural differences. For the handful of countries studied, Alon divides his approach in two. FIrst, in separate chapters early in the book, he introduces the players, their backgrounds and motives, why they select a country and city to set up business in and more. He then leaves the reader dangling just before the franchisors take the plunge. He deliberately makes readers want to learn: how does all this turn out? The latter question Alon answers at adequate length, case by case, in Chapter 10, "Final Reflections and Epilogues." He tells what happened, warts and all when a Croatian married couple, business-educated and business-experienced in the USA returned home to build the country's first "San Francisco Coffee House" and then expanded it by franchising to other cities. Ilon Alon does the same regarding Chapter Six's tale of Ruth's Chris Steak Houses ("the largest fine dining steak house in the United States") when the chain went overseas, where half its international establishments are now franchised. Ditto the other cases. If a business-minded American teenager or participant in Junior Achievement (JA), were to pick up Ilon Alon's latest book, she or he would find a simply written, user-friendly book of the first magnitude for clarity and directness. Jack or Jill might not personally want to do business in Croatia or Korea, but they would probably pick up plenty of facts and insights applicable to the USA on the need for capitalization, the importance of location for retailing and much more. This book is, albeit so oriented to developing markets, not at all bad as a general introduction to franchising almost anywhere. By the time Jack and Jill are in college they may be ready to become franchisees themselves, setting up, for example, their own moving van franchised company, barber shop or something similar. This book is VERY simply written. And yet at the same time, case by case, Professor Alon presents real, complex, very risky life, recent cases of ups and downs within a flexible, rapidly expanding business concept (franchising) whose motto is "be
in business FOR yourself but not BY yourself" (Introduction).
-OOO- http://www.lunch.com/ubergizmo/reviews/d/UserReview- Ilan_Alon_GLOBAL_FRANCHISING_OPERATIONS_ MANAGEMENT_CASES_IN_INTERNATIONAL_AND _EMERGING_MARKETS_OPERATIONS-64-1797094 -219886-If_you_are_a_franchisee_you_are_in_business_FOR.html =-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-= (3) bn.com not reviewable 02/02/2012 title of review: Overseas Adventures of Ruth's Chris Steak House ... and much more! rating: review: recommended reading: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/global-franchising -operations-management-ilon-alon/1106672414?ean= 9780132884143&itm=1&usri=ilan+alon+-+global+ franchising+operations+management =-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-= (4) amazon.com 02/03/2012 title of review: Successful Franchising in Croatia, Korea and elsewhere. Excellent Introduction to Franchising in General rating: * * * * review: So you want to go sell a product or service of yours abroad? Then take a look at 2012's GLOBAL FRANCHISING OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT: CASES IN INTERNATIONAL AND EMERGING MARKETS OPERATIONS. Its author, Rollins College Professor Ilan Alon, walks you quickly through your main choices, including: -- directly exporting your product to
China, Brazil or elsewhere with help from banks and various US
government agencies;
-- buying and operating an existing facility abroad; -- finding a potential overseas partner to swap ideas with and more. Very quickly, however, Alon makes it clear that his central topic is franchising and his specific topic is doing business by franchising in new or less developed, therefore riskier, overseas national economies. He proceeds by presenting, in two separate widely separated steps, cases of how certain individuals and/or firms have proceeded in recent years in such settings as Croatia, China and Indonesia. In those detailed cases the author first describes the individuals or companies thinking about entering or enlarging an existence presence in emerging markets through franchising agreements with other parties. He leads the principals right up to the point just before they take the plunge into actual market entry, then moves on another case with different challenges. Having left us readers hanging in suspense at a case's end, however, Ilan Alon reveals all that subsequently happened to the franchisors and franchisees in Chapter 10, "Final Reflections and Epilogues." Probably the two best-known, highest profile potential franchisors described are London's Marks & Spencer and New Orleans-originated Ruth's Chris Steak House. But we also move into Croatia confidently but cautiously with a young married couple's idea for a "San Francisco Coffee House" for that young country not all that long ago spun off from Yugoslavia. Coffee houses abound in Korea but that did not stop two academicians from trying to start a new English-speaking chain of them (with English language tutoring) on the campuses of cooperating Korean universities and colleges. And there are more stories besides these. Having spent over 20 years in a nearly 30 year State Department Foreign Service career helping American businessmen make money in overseas markets, I am no stranger to franchising. In addition my wife and I have a son who is a franchising professional. I love bouncing ideas off him. I plan to drop off my review copy of GLOBAL FRANCHISING with him in Dallas next week. As a reviewer of Ilan Alon's excellent book for beginners, I may know too much to be objective. But to me this book comes across as strikingly clearly written in simple, almost jargon-free English. If I were teaching teens or even younger the ABCs of franchising in a course for JUNIOR, I would happily use this book. Its target age range is probably age 20 to 40 entrepreneurs, but my point is that is so clear and straightforward that even entrepreneural teens will eat it up as well. If you enjoy this work by Ilan Alon, you have a half dozen more by the same author to choose from. -OOO- http://www.amazon.com/Global-Franchising-Operations -Management-International/dp/0132884143/ref=sr_1_ fkmr2_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328006835&sr=1-1-fkmr2 =-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-= (5) epinions.com 02/06/2012 Review Title: Overseas Franchising is not for Sissies Product Rating: * * * * PROS: Overseas franchising case studies framed within general marketing strategies. Croatia. Korea. China. Indonesia CONS: China case study (footwear) blames franchisor. Surprisingly old statistics for Marks & Spencer. BOTTOM LINE: Despite showcasing making money in risky emerging markets GLOBAL FRANCHISING OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT is excellent for novices first thinking of any type anywhere of cooperative risk-sharing and profits-sharing franchising. aohcapablanca's Full Review: What is a franchise?
According to American Professor Ilan Alon: a reasonably "official" definition is in four parts as follows: "A franchise is the agreement or license between two legally independent parties which gives: * A person or group of people (franchisee) the right to market a product or sevice using the trademark or trade name of another business (franchisor) * The franchisee the right to market a product or service using the operating methods of the franchisor * The franchisee the obligation to pay the franchisor fees for these rights * The franchisor the obligation to provide rights and support to franchisees." This definition is provided by The International Franchise Association (IFA) of Washington, DC. By the time you finish reading Alon's 2012 book, GLOBAL FRANCHISING OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT: CASES IN INTERNATIONAL AND EMERGING MARKETS OPERATIONS you will most certainly have fleshed out that dry definition. Let me help just a bit by focusing on only the last of the four definitional features of a franchise -- an"agreement or license between two legally independent parties which gives ... * The franchisor the obligation to provide rights and support to franchisees. The failure, in author Alon's judgment, of a franchisor to provide adequate support to its master franchisee selling athletic footwear in China is responsible in great measure for the master franchisee's failure in that giant market. Ilan Alon devotes chapter 7 and 8 to "Master International Franchising in China: The Athlete's Foot, Inc. (Parts A and B)." Typically and helpfully the Rollins College professor frames -- as he does with all cases -- his China study as choices for both potential franchisors and franchisees among various ways in addition to franchising of doing profitable business in a non-American market and opting among various strategies for entering that market. Ilan Alon then describes both the parties to a coming franchise agreement, their mind sets, expectations and experiences and brings them to a point where a major decision must be made. Leaving the reader eager to learn what happens next, Alon simply and without explanation moves on to another unrelated case. All cases are, thankfully, more or less definitively resolved in Chapter 10, "Final Reflections and Epilogues" where the author carries the two major franchising parties a bit deeper into success, failure or reasons for changing course. Finally, Alon expounds what he thinks are the major factors in a case which he has already sketched in at times seemingly minute detail and in no little depth. Ilan Alon begins his China footwar study in medias res. Chinese American Rick Wang owns a company called RetailCo, Inc. That firm is exercising a master franchise for all of China. Franchisor is The Athlete's Foot, Inc. It is late 2001 and sales volume is down nearly a third from 2000. What has gone wrong? Rick moved from the USA to Shanghai in 1992. He soon established RetailCo, Inc. and began retailing athletic footwear sales on his own. But he proved inexperienced. Then he discovered the Kennesaw, Georgia firm The Athlete's Foot which was an industry leader for such products. That American firm had 800 stores in more than 40 countries from Antigua to Venezuela. It was a model of success that Rick Wang decided to imitate. He flew to Atlanta, was warmly received by the CEO and had a quick but thorough education in "the science behind retailing." The Athlete's Foot agreed to make Rick its master franchisee in China. KFC and McDonald's entered China in the early 1990s. By 2000 "franchising had become a mature, steady growth opportunity in China -- with more than 90 franchisors targeting that giant emerging market." Rick and his handful of partners opened their first store in Shanghai. It boomed. Soon his strategy called for opening a new store in China every 22 days. He followed almost slavishly The Athletes' Foot, Inc.'s well established model. Then things began to go sour. Wang began a struggle for survival. Wang also began to suspect, and the author came down on Wang's side, that the Georgia firm was too inflexible and unfamiliar with China, unable to provide Wang's stores with guaranteed brand names like Nike. Amicably Rick Wang terminated his franchise contract and became a retailer for Adidas brand footwear. The author's concluding lesson: "Any partnership can disintegrate when partners are not equal to the tasks associated with the business" (Ch. 10). I have highlighted the two chapters on master franchising in China because, somewhat uncharacteristically, the author casts some blame on the franchisor instead of loading it all on the franchiser. Other cases studied in GLOBAL FRANCHISING OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT describe opening coffee houses in Croatia and Korea, the thought processes behind the London department store giant Marks & Spencer's ways of going global (using alas some key statistics no more recent than 1998), and similarly for Kodak Express and Ruth's Chris Steak House. The final case study is of an altruistic effort by foreigners to reintroduce profitable organic farming to small scale farms in Indonesia. The book is very clearly written. Motivated Junior Achievement high-school teens will not find its well-illustrated jargon obscure or off-putting. The book is, however, pitched to young entrepreneurs in their 20s or 30s or even older business people already experienced in domestic manufacturing or selling who want to go international. Franchising, domestic and international, is big business. In the USA alone franchising characterizes "about 785 thousand establishments with an output that approaches $740 billion ... (accounting for) nearly 18 million jobs (1 of 8) and a $2.1 trillion contribution to output" (Introduction). By text's end all readers know that franchising is not for the faint of heart. It is strong. It is also weak. It is a hybrid form of business in which a franchisee has enormous opportunites for individual creativity within firmly insisted upon guidelines and rules of the franchisor. The industry slogan is admirable, realistic and says it all: "be in business for yourself but not by yourself." Concluding notes: --(1) I spent a large part of my
three-decade career in the US State Departmen's Foreign Service helping
American businessmen make money in territories and countries as diverse
as Hong Kong, Aghanistan, Viet-Nam, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Germany and
Surinam. I have paid attention to franchising for a long, long time.
-- (2) As I complete typing this review, I am sitting in the home of a relative in Dallas who has been in international franchising for just under 20 years. We have a ball bouncing ideas off each other. FYI: he, now an independent, self-employed franchising consultant for the past three years, had not hear of author Ilan Alon. But we are having great fun discussing all Alon's cases. The two may meet next week in Orlando at the annual convention of The International Franchise Association (IFA). Previous convention speakers heard by my kinsman have included Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and George W. Bush. This year Fox News's Bill O'Reilly is featured. I wish I could be in Orlando, too! But other Texas relatives beckon in Kerrville and Houston. And February is only a short time between Ashevile Torch Club monthly meetings which seem to appreciate my presence. -OOO- p.s. thank you epinions books gatekeeper DramaStef for making GLOBAL FRANCHISING OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT available to us epinionators to review and enjoy. Recommended: Yes. http://www.epinions.com/review/Global_Franchising_Operations _Management_Cases_in_International_and_Emerging_Markets _Operations_epi/content_578884701828 =-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-= (6) openlibrary.org 01/31/2012 GLOBAL FRANCHISING OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT CASES IN INTERNATIONAL AND EMERGING MARKETS OPERATIONS Published April 2012 by FT Press in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458. Table of Contents
Introduction: Franchising defined Part I: To Franchise or Not to Franchise Part II. In Search of Global Opportunities Part III. Franchising in Emerging Markets and Developing Countries ........ 10. Final Reflections and Epilogues Index ID Numbers Open Library OL25183445M ISBN 10 0132884143 Edited by T. Patrick Killough Added publication date of forthcoming
hardcover edition,
subtitle, overview of table of contents (without listing the seven case studies). TPK 01/31/2012 http://openlibrary.org/books/OL25183445M/GLOBAL_ FRANCHISING_OPERATIONS_MANAGEMENT ==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- http://www.patrickkillough.com/books/alon_franchising.html |