If you could buy into a franchise, which one and where would you open it?  Briefly state why you selected the franchise and the area.

is Texas a good place/area ?

franchising is a variation of

A: Make a list of 5 internal data (specific data points such as “first name” and “sales per day”) that the following companies would have in their database: Amazon.ca, Pharmaprix, and Concordia University. (different ones for each. They should not be ordinary ones, i.e. first name and last name!).

B: For each one, write a brief logic that why you think it could be a useful one. i.e. for birth date, you can say they might use it to congrats and provide coupons.

Hint: Name and sales per day are the two examples of distinct information, which a company might have in its internal database. Another piece of information might be, for example, email address, gender, price trends, and so on. I am asking for a list containing 5 of such information - not real or mock examples: i.e. John, $20, etc - for each of the four companies. This information could be stored by different methods, i.e. when you sign up or purchase products from Amazon, you provide Amazon several different kinds of information. The same might be once you want to pick up your prescribed medicine from the Pharmaprix. The goal of this assignment is to think of different types of information a company has.

Attention to these points are required:
1. These companies are not the same in nature (so not all information that they have is the same)
2. There are different methods that a company acquires the data (so not all information that it has should look the same, i.e. all are not demographic-based information).
3. If a consumer walks into a Pharmaprix store and makes a cash purchase, that the company collects no data about that person at all—but that they do have data about the item purchased.
4. More importantly, the internal data is not about just customers! It could be about the inventory, cash flow, customer satisfaction, and so on! So the list should consist of a piece of information from any of the following departments (not all from the same source): marketing department, customer service department, accounting department, operation reports, sales force, and marketing channels.

 few years, British Sky Broadcasting has transformed the way people in Britain watch and use their television. Before Sky, people could never have imagined ordering a pizza or sending an email from their set. Today it's an accepted thing.

Part of Sky's success has been in its brand - in defining what makes Sky special and in expressing that difference visually, in products and in the actions of people in the company. And that brand has become one of the company's greatest assets. Brands help companies build a relationship with a customer. A good brand not only helps differentiate a company, it also helps the customer feel something as a result. A pair of Nike trainers might make a person feel more fashionable. A Sony minidisc player might make a person feel they are at the cutting edge of miniature technology. A Rolls Royce might make a person feel that they have reached the top.

Some brands even go beyond that and become so well known that they become generic. This means they're used as a general term for that type of product, even if it's a competitor's product. Walkmans, and Hoovers are a good example. People Hoover the carpet, even if they're really using an Electrolux.

A brand helps customer recognition and enables recognition to be spread by word of mouth as well as by advertising. A brand also adds value. It can allow a company to offer its products at a premium, without reducing the customers' perception of value for money. It also allows a company to extend what they offer to the customer - if a customer trusts one product from that company, they are more likely to trust (and buy) another product from the same company.

That is why Sky has invested so much in its brand. As the first entrant 16 years ago in the field of multichannel television, it had the opportunity to build strong recognition and to even establish itself as the generic brand for multichannel television.

Source: (viewed 10 February 2019)

QUESTIONS

1. In the above article, "if a customer trusts one product from that company, they are more likely to trust (and buy) another product from the same company". Discuss different ways that companies can use to increase brand loyalty. Justify your answers with relevant examples. (5 marks) (500 words)

2. In the above article "brand has become one of the company's greatest assets". Do you agree? Justify your answers with arguments and examples. (5 marks) (500 words)