Reflection

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Learning about entrepreneurship has been a very great experience for  me as a student. It has helped to broaden my views on not only how businesses are created, but also how to see business opportunities in a lot of situations. It has also helped me learn how things work in my society and I have to say it has been a fun filled experience.
I also found it interesting sharing  information on the internet and interacting with others far and wide on their different views. I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to my entrepreneurship instructor, Ms Jelena Zivkovic for always being there to teach me, to my classmates for helping me out when I had problems and to you my viewers for reading my blog. I hope you all found it interesting.

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Franchise

Chapter 6 show from dexstatistics

Franchise

Definition of Terms

• A Franchise involves any arrangement in which the owner of a trade name, trademark or copyright which has licensed others to use it in selling goods and services.
• The franchisee is legally independent but economically dependent on the integrated business system of the franchisor. He is the purchaser of the franchise.
• The franchisor is the seller of the franchise.

The franchise can be viewed as a large umbrella corporation with other branches working under it. 

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ADVANTAGES OF FRANCHISE

• Training and Guidance: The franchisee always has the opportunity of receiving assistance and guidance from the franchise.
• Brand-Name Appeal: Buying a well known franchise also gives the franchisee's business quick recognition and therefore better chance of success.
• A Proven Track Record: Buying a franchise which has also been successful over the years gives the franchisee the assurance of success.
• Financial Assistance: The franchise could also be a source of financial assistance to the franchisee when he/she has  less capital to effectively run the business.

DISADVANTAGES OF FRANCHISE

• Franchise Fees: Franchisees usually pay certain amounts to the franchisor from their sales (usually is 5%-20%).  
• Franchisor Control: Since franchisees depend economically on the franchisor's  business system, the franchisor usually exerts a fair level of control over their businesses.
• Unfulfilled Promises: The problem of unfulfilled promises is evident in some franchisor-franchisee relationships where the franchisee doesn't receive either the financial assistance, the training and guidance promised, or even goods and equipment.

Creativity and Innovation.

Creativity and Innovation both do have some things in common, but they are not the synonyms they seem to be. Being creative could involve making up all those beautiful ideas of a new shoe which could be used both as a cover shoe and a normal slipper, but not the process of putting this idea into production and selling it to generate profit.This process now involves Innovation.

• Creativity is the generation of ideas that results in the improved efficiency or effectiveness of a system.
• Innovation is the process by which entrepreneurs convert opportunities into marketable ideas. 

SOURCES OF INNOVATION

There are various sources of an entrepreneur's innovation, and since they are always alert and looking for opportunities, they usually recognize opportunities not noticeable by others. There are mostly 8 sources of innovation, these are:

1. Trends: A trend means a style or something common to a social group. This may include hairstyle, type of clothing, etc. A common example of a trend among Nigerian youth is the Blackberry platform. An entrepreneur could notice this desire of Nigerian youths and develop a business initiative where he satisfies the 'blackberry phone hunger' of the youths and makes his profit. Trends could include societal trends, technology trends,economic trends and government trends.
2. Unexpected occurrences: Even in times of disaster, innovation is possible, and entrepreneurs never fail to undertake these opportunities that rise from these disasters. For example following security threats to a country, an entrepreneur could open a security providing initiative or a business that offers security devices.
3. Incongruities: This occurs when there is a big difference between people involved in business transactions. For example the FedEx initiative by Fred Smith which provides overnight mail delivery.
4. Process  Needs: Innovation often occurs when there is a need for a solution to a certain problem. These innovative initiatives then serve as solutions to these problems. 
5. Industry and Market Changes: As time moves on, things continue to change, and so do demand for certain goods and services. Even the way services are rendered are changing everyday to suite the consumers needs and so there is always an innovative opportunity lurking around.
6. Demographic Changes: New opportunities always arise due to changes in the population, age,  occupation, education, health, etc of the people in a country and thereby fostering innovation.
7. Perceptual Changes: People's knowledge about themselves, their welfare and their environment always provides an opportunity for innovative activity.For example, the knowledge that people have that keeping physically fit leads to good health would only mean they need programs and facilities that promote their keeping fit and an entrepreneur could then find a way of providing this services.
8. Knowledge Based Concepts: This involves invention which would require a lot of knowledge on the needs of the people and making products to satisfy these needs. This process often requires a long process of fabrication, modification, testing, finalizing, etc. before it becomes marketable. 

TYPES OF INNOVATION

1. Invention: This involves creating a totally new product, service or process.
2. Extension: This involves developing a new use or different application of an already existing product, service or process.
3. Duplication: This involves the creative replication of an existing concept. 
4. Synthesis: This involves the combination of existing concepts and factors into a new formulation or use.