Franchising and Its Practical Use
| Author: | Bc. Michal Šinka |
|---|---|
| Year: | 2008 - summer |
| Leaders: | † Ing. Zdeněk Hrubý CSc. |
| Consultants: | |
| Work type: | Bachelors |
| Language: | Slovak |
| Pages: | 55 |
| Awards and prizes: | |
| Link: | |
| Abstract: | The aim of this thesis is a look at franchising as a marketing method which binds the elements of the free market and the internal firm organization, and its application on the pharmaceutical sector in Slovakia. The present situation in the sector, steep rise in the number of new pharmacies, especially within pharmaceutical chains, and existential problems of many pharmacists stemming from this situation are investigated in the thesis. The idea of using the franchising method in the pharmaceutical sector is relatively new. There is some experience in Germany and Netherlands. However, the question is why this successful marketing method has not yet been utilized in the pharmaceutical sector in a wider range. That is why the author of the thesis tries to apply the basic elements of the franchise business to the subjects in the pharmaceutical market, i.e. sets the distributive companies as suitable franchisors and the existing pharmacies with their customer bases as perspective franchisees. On the case-study basis of a model pharmacy, whose existence is threatened by a strong competition pressure, we will try to derive an estimation of the future economic development of the pharmacy after it has entered the franchising project. Despite the initial costs of the project and the necessity of paying the franchise fee and royalties to the franchisor, we conclude that, although the pharmaceutical sector is a special business in many ways, pharmaceutical franchising project is tangible and is one of the few options of how the independent pharmacists – pharmacy owners can improve their competitive advantage in the strong competition environment in the Slovak pharmaceutical sector, as well as a possibility of improving the quality of health services in general. |
