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transferable. We were developing a new market, but we didn’t own it. Anyone could have moved in. We realized we had to develop the market before others entered it. Interviewer: You decided against investing in new outlets yourselves.
Rae: We would have preferred that option, but it wasn’t an alternative that was available to us. We didn’t have the capital or the management structure to cope with a large number of stores. Banks had no interest in us in those days. All our initial financing came out of our own pockets and the pockets of our friends.
Interviewer: Whose idea was it to expand as a franchise?
Rae: My husband’s. He saw the danger right away, and said that if we didn’t develop our brand name and our reputation fast, we’d be pushed aside by operations with more money behind them. He saw rightly that franchising was the only way for us to go, the only way of growing fast enough to secure the market we were creating.
Interviewer: Thank you, Mrs. Rae.
Rae: It’s my pleasure.
Answer the questions:
1.What were the main reasons for the company’s success?
2.Who financed the first store?
3.Whose idea was it to franchise?
4.What were the main reasons for decision to franchise?
Summarize the interview.
Exercise 4. Find the corresponding English sentences to the following Russian ones.
1.Приятно, когда тебя ценят.
2.Мне хотелось бы признать вклад всех других людей, вовлечённых в наш бизнес.
3.Я не перестаю говорить всем, что я не делала это самостоятельно.
4.С самого начала одной из самых больших опасностей для нас было то, что идею могут перехватить.
5.Вы сами выступили против инвестирования новых филиалов.
6.У нас не было ни капитала, ни управленческой структуры, чтобы справиться с большим числом магазинов.
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7.Он сразу же понял опасность.
8.Нас бы вытеснили компании, за которыми стоят большие деньги..
Θ Outside the US, the Body Care company policy is to appoint a head franchisee for an individual country or group of countries. The head franchisee then develops the market by sub-franchising. Care is taken to find head franchisees of the highest calibre. In Scandinavia the position remains unfilled, and growth in that market has been correspondingly slow. In November, the company receives a letter from Isabella Hallberg of Stockholm, enquiring about franchise possibilities. She is sent the standard information pack, which includes the following fact sheet on costs.
Answer the questions:
1.What is the company’s policy outside the USA?
2.Who applied for a position of a head franchisee in Scandinavia?
3.What information was she given?
Read the fact sheet.
FRANCHISE INFORMATION
1.The following figures are obviously approximate and will vary from location to location, but they form a useful guide in estimating the initial outlay involved in setting up a Wendy Rae Body Care Center:
2. |
|
$ |
1) |
Franchise Premium |
7000 |
2) |
Annual Franchise Operating Fee |
1000 |
3) |
Design Fee |
3000 |
4) |
Shopfitting |
100000 |
5) |
Opening Stock |
60000 |
6) |
A quarter’s rent and property taxes |
20000 |
7) |
Others (Fees etc) |
15000 |
|
TOTAL |
$ 206000 |
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3. Notes.
a)The rent of $70000 is an estimate of what is the current market rent for premises that fulfil our requirements, and occupy a prime location.
Size – 700/1000 square foot retail area
400 square foot storage and office space, washrooms bottling and gift-pack making facilities
b)The above figure does not include any premium that might be payable to obtain an existing lease.
c)The target gross profit on sales should be 40%.
d)The Wendy Rae Body Care Centers have arranged for the State Bank of California to provide up to 45% of the total set-up costs subject to the normal credit status check.
ΘNow listen to recorded extracts from the fact sheet.
Θ The fact sheet on costs is out of date. Listen to the recording and update the figures.
Exercise 5. Consult the dictionary and find corresponding Russian equivalents to the following English ones in the text. Explain in English the same Russian equivalents using either definitions or synonyms.
Initial outlay; operating fee; shopfitting; opening stock; property taxes; to fulfill requirements; retail area; office space; washroom; lease, target gross profit; to arrange for the State Bank; to provide; set-up costs; the normal credit status check.
Exercise 6.
Notice: Franchiser – The person who gives a franchise.
Franchisee – The person who receives it.
employer – employee |
payer – payee |
lessor – lessee |
guarantor – guarantee |
licensor – licensee |
|
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NB. A guarantee is not the person guaranteed, but the legal document.
Now fill the blanks in these sentences.
e.g. My employer has given me a pay rise.
a. |
The warehouse in Strand Road will be available soon. The ................ |
is moving. |
||
b. |
The cheque has not been acknowledged. Maybe the |
............... |
has not received it. |
|
c. |
The bank will put up the financing provided I can find someone to act as ............. . |
|||
d. |
I have 150 |
............... on the payroll. |
|
|
e. |
I’d like to rent those offices. I wonder who the .............. |
is. |
|
|
f. |
It is difficult to get money out of ABC Ltd. They are slow .............. |
. |
||
g. |
As the ............. |
, I have to pay annual franchise operating fee. |
|
|
Θ After reading the information pack, Isabella Hallberg calls Body Care’s head office in
Santa Monica and speaks to the Franchise Manager. Listen to the phone call. Say what facts are correct.
a)The information kit contains all the details Isabella Hallberg needs.
b)Overseas franchisees do not have to stock a full range of Body Care products.
c)Export liquid products are bottled and labeled in the US.
d)Overseas franchisees are not charged the annual franchise operating fee.
e)With new overseas franchisees, Body care is more concerned with establishing a market rather than making profits.
Note:
information kit = information pack
oversight = unintended failure to notice or do something relevant = connected with the subject
volume container = large container
Θ Listen to telephone conversation again and call three differences in the terms and conditions mentioned by Franchise Manager.
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Revision of the file
Exercise 7. Give English equivalents. Make up your own sentences with these words.
Туалетные принадлежности, склад, торговая точка, здравый смысл, работать на основе франшизы, недосмотр, феноменальное достижение, продавать в розницу, произвести переворот, комментировать что-л., неограниченный потенциал, решающий, первоначальное финансирование, начальный запас (товаров), первоначальные расходы, отвечать требованиям, лицензионный взнос.
Exercise 8. Complete the sentences using the words given below. Make sure your grammar is correct.
lease |
to revolutionize |
retail outlets |
oversight |
outlay |
|
at the point of sale |
to decide against |
to run |
operation |
a ceiling |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1.Benetton has ___________ in every major European city.
2.Under the new law, cigarette advertising will only be allowed at __________.
3.Many small businesses fail in the first year of __________.
4.The government imposed _________ on imports of foreign cars.
5.For a while she ___________ a restaurant in Boston.
6.After a long discussion, they ____________ the older applicant.
7.For a relatively small _________, you can start a home hair dressing business.
8.I assure you that this was purely __________ on my part.
9.New technology is going ___________ everything we do.
10.The landlord refused to renew his ________.
Exercise 9. Give the summary of the file.