cararticles.com

As the squads of the NHL play for the final spots, the many Franchises begin to dream about the glory and the possibility of lifting the coveted Stanley Cup. We will look at the Franchises and provide facts of how they set off from a Franchise For Sale, revealed across the world to the major Franchises of the NHL sports market today. The NHL sports market has been insecure for numerous years, from numerous teams finding it tough to meet contracts demands, to a lot of teams being able to fritter away millions of dollars contracts. At this present stage the NHL sports market is more secure as great amounts of dollars are being put away, as economic uncertainties have touched the NHL hockey market. All of the Franchises are declining their spending and running with their possessions, which is having a large advantage on the prospect of a Franchise For Sale in the market. A lot of franchise backers for numerous years have examined their Franchises as a Home Based Franchise, the franchise backers work with their team deeply and they take it everywhere with them. This is quite like any other Home Based Franchise within the current market and therefore very essential to a future franchise backer looking for a Franchise For Sale in the market. The investor will have the faith that the team has been well focussed and looked after as if it were a Home Based Franchise.

Here is the story of a NHL Franchises that has had huge uncertainties over the years incorporating change in managers and playing staff.

The San Jose Sharks team began to take shape in 1990. The NHL decided for George and Gordon Gund to sell the Minnesota North Stars and get an expansion team in the San Francisco Bay area. The Sharks acquired players from the North Stars organisation and the rest of the league through a unique expansion draft. As their 1st ever draft pick, the Sharks chose WHL star Pat Fallon and added Ray Whitney and Sandis Ozolinsh. They began play as an NHL team at the Cow Palace in Daly City in the 1991-92 season.

With the Sharks on the verge of relocating to the brand new San Jose Arena, more changes were in the works as coach George Kingston was replaced by Kevin Constantine. Constantine produced a different manner to San Jose, a style that would emerge as the leading strategy for success in the NHL. His defence first method would propel the Sharks from the laughing stock of the NHL all the way to the playoffs, a turnaround of record size.

The club continued to build on its playoff success, with one of their best performances in the 1999-2000 postseason. They won a rough fought series against the St Louis Blues, a series that went seven games. In the second round the team opposed their arch-rival, the Dallas Stars and were defeated in five games.

The 2000-2001 season saw the team put together their most successful season in team history, gathering a team-record 95 points with 40 wins and they became just the fifth team in NHL history to improve their point total in five straight seasons. The team advanced to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fourth straight season, also a team record. Once again they opposed the St. Louis Blues who avenged their earlier postseason loss by making quick work of the Sharks in five games.

When you initially step into the realms of a Franchise Opportunity one of the first things to stand out will most certainly be the extent of the “rule book”, or the paper that sets out the foundation under which you may work within your contract. There will also be a substancial amount of detail around the consequences of not obeying these rules, some of which will be harsh.

It is also confusing for a new franchisee to realise that the good ideas that he comes up with on how to improve the operating of the business are nine times out of ten not taken up the franchisor, and more than that are discounted going forward. This is all very much part of the Low Cost Franchise culture. A culture that causes a considerable amount of stress and annoyance for individuals having just recently purchased a Franchise For Sale and less so for those who are old hats at the franchise model.

Those with more experience of the ways in which a franchise model works can appreciate the need for conformity across the whole organisation. This generally means that the same stipulations apply to all franchises across the country but similarly it could apply overseas too.

The model must be easy to replicate all over the territory in which it operates and therefore should be configured to allow regional differences in the system. The model must also take into account that the franchisees running each franchise will have different skills and so it must be clear and useful enough for all to deal with. This can sometimes mean that an individual with extra skills in a particular field is restricted in his actions as the rest of the franchisees would just not be able to operate at that level.

A lot of the conformity boils down to the ease in which the Franchise operator can monitor and control the complete team. If every franchisee for example was submitting sales figures in a different configuration it would be very time consuming to appraise the overall picture and so all franchisees need to use the same reporting documentation. If one franchisee decided that he was going to put a deal together for a particular bundle of products in a given month the sales of the franchisee in the ajoining patch may be affected. This could escalate to a complaint to the franchisor. A few of these types of situations needing attention and the franchisor is using all his time sorting out disputes rather than continuing to grow his organisation.

So the rule book, although big, is there for a very good reason, the continued expansion of the complete organisation. If you are considering a Franchise Opportunity do not necessarily be put off by a large and comprehensive list of do’s and don’ts. Often it is a sign that the franchisor has a great vision for the company and has the willpower and drive to get it there. This of course is precisely what a potential franchisee wants to hear as the brand and organisation growth will have a massive affect on the profits for each franchisee.