Franchises
Much has been written about franchising as a start-up business opportunity. Arguably the methodology is less entrepreneurial than it is the representation of a small business ex¬tended into another market. The evidence supporting the notion is that all successful fran¬chises have a packaged program that must be followed. McDonald's has an exclusive operators manual that details every phase of the operation from start-up, to promotions and shutdown with no deviations expected. Franchisors have been known to evaluate the ex¬tent of entrepreneurial behaviour in prospective franchises. M&M Meat Shops Ltd., a 135- outlet chain in Kitchener, Ontario, administers personality tests that weed out those who show strong entrepreneurial traits. Franchises have an 80 percent success rate in Canada. Four out of five last five years. That they do so is due to following the formula that made them suc¬cessful in the first place. "Much of what they do is dictated by the franchisor, who is selling a formula that has supposedly worked for many others."16