Owning a Business, Franchising, Absolute Care Services (Term Paper Sample)

Two part assignment
Name
Institution
Part 1: Owning a Business
Birchbox is an interest small business worth examining. The business is located at the heart of New York City. It was founded by two Harvard Business School graduates (Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna) in 2010. It is a partnership form of business, which delivers highly personalized variety of beauty products. As a partnership, Birchbox is coupled with a number of advantages. First, its start-up costs are relatively lower as compared to those of companies. Besides, as a partnership, Birchbox has a relatively greater capital base and the owners can share losses (risks) and responsibilities, unlike the case of a sole proprietorship (Bartschi, 2001). Moreover, the business makes more accurate decisions than sole proprietorship. The partnership, moreover, has some disadvantages. For instance, the sharing of profits is not welcome especially when the profits are low. Moreover, unlike corporations, partnerships have unlimited liability and limited lives (Miller & Jentz, 2008). Further, there might always be serious disagreements between partnerships, which may delay key decisions.
The owners of Birchbox have benefited from the good location of their upcoming business. Besides, the business’s IT infrastructure has always remarkable as it has enabled the business to go online at reach a broader customer base. There is still more opportunities that the owners can tap in so as to improve the profitability of their business. The increase in preference towards beauty products among women in New York implies more sale revenue to the business. The business has, however, been criticized of promoting immorality among the population. This aspect has arguably taunted the image of the owners. With no extreme competitive pressure and high growth potentials, Birchbox is worth purchasing. The question will be: how long will this form of business survive if similar businesses are poured in the same line of business?
Part 2: Franchising
Globally, the growth of franchising has been remarkable over the recent past. In US alone, franchise businesses have boomed in 2015. Some of the fastest growing franchise businesses in U.S and their businesses have been summarized in the following table.
Table 1: Fastest growing franchises in U.S
Name Business 1.Subway Offers Subs, salads2.Cruise Planners Travel agency 3.Vanguard Cleaning Systems Commercial cleaning 4.Firehouse SubsSubs5.Planet FitnessFitness Club6.Mac ToolsAutomotive equipment and tools 7. Anytime FitnessFitness Center8. Jack in the BoxBurgers9. Pizza HutWings, Pasta, Pizza10. Dunkin’ DonutsBaked goods, Doughnuts, Coffee The growth of franchise businesses is not evident in U.S alone but equally in other counties globally such as United Kingdom. Table 2 provides a summary of highly rated franchises in UK and their business activities.
Table 2: Highly rated franchise businesses in U.K
Name Business 1.Absolute Care Services Provides support and care services to elderly population in their homes2.Cafe2UOffers mobile coffee 3.Curves Women's fitness 4.BASEOBuys and sells high quality second hand electronic products 5.Tiger Bills A restaurant business 6.Auditel Strategic cost management consultancy franchise 7. Creams British LuxuryRuns a teahouse, gifts and chocolate 8. Agency Express Real estate agency franchise 9. Suit the city Bespoke tailoring services10. Action CoachProvides business coaching services Source: Franchise Direct, 2015.
In spite of the existence of many franchises in the United States, there are arguable more franchise business opportunities, which can clearly thrive here. From the above information it is clear that there is not know franchise in U.S that offers care and support for the elderly people. Therefore, starting a potential franchise in this line of business could be effective.
A SWOT analysis of this potential new franchise business reveals the follow strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. One of the strengths of the new franchise will be a potential large customer base. Currently, the number of elderly people in U.S is enormous, which could provide a large market for the franchises services (Kotkin & Cox, 2014). There is, however, a huge potential weakness that could face the new franchise on joining the U.S market. Lack of consumer of awareness of the franchise could significantly deter the business from successfully penetrating the industry. The U.S population provides numerous business opportunities for the new franchise. U.S’s aging population has been on a rising trend over ...