Prospects and Challenges of Franchising Pharmacies in Ghana: A Case Study of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Retailers in the Brong Ahafo Region

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Date
2012
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Abstract
Franchising is an agreement between two legally independent parties that gives one party the right to market a product or service using the trademark of another. Franchising as an entry mode for businesses seeking to expand their operations is fast gaining grounds in developing countries. The main objective of the study was to find out the prospects and challenges of franchising pharmacies in Ghana using pharmaceutical wholesalers and retailers in the Brong Ahafo region as case study. Forty (40) questionnaires were administered to forty selected pharmacies in the region. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for the analysis. From the research it was observed that difficulty in getting access to capital was a major problem hampering the expansion of pharmacies in the region. This reason cuts across from the setting up a new facility to threatening its survival. The research found that the franchising strategy that can be considered include assessing the financial position of potential franchisees, and a strategy geared at enhancing survival and success rate of franchised pharmacies. It came to light that majority of respondents would want to adopt franchising as a business strategy; however there is the need to increase their knowledge about the system. The research was able to synthesize potential problems that will affect franchising. It came to light that getting a pharmacist to register a new facility was crucial, since without them no approval can be given for the operation of a new facility by the pharmacy council. The legal issues about the franchise system and the financial risk that may be involved were identified as potential problems. The study therefore recommended to financial institutions in the region to readily extend credit to pharmacies, the need to increase awareness about franchising as a business strategy and the posting of more pharmacists to the region.
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A Thesis submitted to the Institute Of Distance Learning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Commonwealth Executive of Business Administration,
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