Teaching Notes for Cases - Section 5
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CASE 6 AUSSIE POOCH MOBILE
OVERVIEW After creating a mobile service that washes dogs outside their owners’ homes, a young entrepreneur has successfully franchised the concept. Her firm now has more than 100 franchisees in many parts of Australia, as well as a few in other countries. In early 2002, she and her management team were debating how best to plan future expansion.
STUDY QUESTIONS How did Christine Taylor succeed in evolving the local dog-washing service she developed as a teenager into an international franchise business? ________________________________________________________________________
Note: All financial data are in Australian dollars (AUD), whose exchange value in 2003 at the time of the case was USD 0.57 = EUR 0.58 = GBP 0.41. [More recent exchange rates reflect a sharp drop in the value of the U.S. dollar against the Australian dollar, euro (EUR), and pound sterling (GBP). By late 2006, AUD 1.00 = USD 0.76 = EUR 0.60 = GBP 0.40). These changes in exchange rates would not affect decisions by APM on expansion within Australia but could have an impact on the relative attractiveness of future investments in, say, the UK versus the U.S.]
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© 2004, 2007 Christopher H. Lovelock
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Compare and contrast the tasks involved in recruiting new customers and recruiting new franchisees. From a franchisee’s perspective, what are the key benefits of belonging to the APM franchise in (a) the first year and (b) the third and subsequent years? In planning for future expansion, what strategy should Christine Taylor adopt for APM and why?
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Analysis
1. How did Christine Taylor succeed in evolving the local dog-washing service she developed as a teenager into an international franchise business?
Taylor’s success springs, first, from her strong customer service ethic, developed as a child from working in her parents’ bait and tackle