Viewpoints to franchise entrepreneurship

The objective of the thesis was to clarify what are the ways of action of the franchis-ing chains, their advantages, their profitability and what restrictions they bring to entrepreneurs. One aim was also to clarify why the franchising entrepreneurs chose the franchising activity even though it also was possible for them to open a company based on an own business idea. As a background, other company forms were also presented.

The word franchising was made official in 1987 to Finnish language. Due to the enlargening of the franchising activity, Finland's franchising association registered association was founded in 1988. The objective of the association is to maintain and to develop the franchising activity`s ethical rules and to offer services to the persons who are interested in franchising activity, and also to franchising entrepreneurs.

The thesis consisted of five parts which are: differences of the company forms, pri-vate and franchising company models, advantages and drawbacks, empiria interviews and the reasons of choosing franchising entrepreneurship. A qualitative study was used as a study method, including SWOT-analysis and theme interview.

In the study, the objective was achieved through a theory and interviews. The study clarified that the operations model of franchising are increasing in Finland on the basis of the practicality and the good reputation of the business model. In the future it is likely to see that the number of franchising entrepreneurs will be the same as the ordinary entrepreneurs.

The study also brought up the fact that it is important to the future entrepreneur to focus on getting information of company forms before the establishment one`s own firm. The entrepreneur should decide himself which form suits his firm best. It would be good for the future entrepreneur to think also about the fact whether there it is sufficient motivation to really become an entrepreneur. The opening of the company challenges many resources, such as physical, mental and economic ones and the life of one`s family can also be influenced.