The Real Competitors are Small and Medium Enterprises!
I was once involved in the development of various franchises.
During the development of the Gulliver franchise, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan did nothing, until they had 300 stores. The presidents of major subsidiaries cannot read the size of the market. The president of the parent company, who can make decisions, is in a hurry in his core business.
The same is true for "Royal," "Suikairaku," and "Denny's" in response to "St. Mark's" bakery restaurant. The same is true of Joraien, Toraji, and Anrakutei, which are competitors to Gyukaku, a Yakiniku (barbecued meat) restaurant. The same goes for "Sojibo," a gourmet izakaya (buckwheat noodle restaurant), as opposed to "Takadaya. The same goes for Sagami and Kazoku-tei in comparison to Sanuki Udon's "Marugame Seimen".
They are all the same.
In other industries, Google + is to Facebook what Google is to Facebook.
Until a market reaches a certain scale, only those who have been in the market for a long time know how attractive it is.
The big players will not enter the market. Or perhaps they cannot. Then it will be too late. Small and medium enterprises are different.
They enter the market in the early stage with the sensibility of the owner.
There is big first-mover advantage.
The way for small and medium-sized businesses to survive is to expand fast enough to make the big players realize that it is impossible for them to catch up with them!
I think franchising is the best way to do that. There is no time for slow, plodding expansion under direct management.
The key to success then is the superiority of the franchise business!
Price, service, access, product, and value of experience.
The rest is just average. The rest should be average: two categories that score 5 on a 5-point scale, and the rest should be 3 or higher.
There is no need to seek a perfect score of 5 in every category of the so-called 5-Way Positioning strategy. (President Hoshino of Hoshino Resorts uses this book as a textbook!)
Customers do not demand that much.
If you score 5 points for experience value and service, then 3 points for price and product is fine. If price and accessibility are 5 points, experience value and service should be 3 points.
This idea is important! A sense of separation in a good way!
What is the appeal of your company? What makes you stand out from the crowd? What areas do you sharpen? What is the real product of your company, business category, or store?
I would like to think about the following.
We need to find that out in our own franchise headquarters.
Every successful franchise chain in the past has it. Let's think about it.
5 Way Positioning!
Akira Tsuchiya, AssentiaHoldings Pte.
