The BOOT Model of growth

At the Academy for Creating Enterprise in Cebu, Philippines they are experimenting with a model of franchise growth that they are calling BOOT (Build, Operate, Own, Transfer). The first player in the equation is the Academy itself. The Academy assumes full responsibility and builds a business with a specific vision for replication, developing systems and operating manuals. The chosen business could be selected from models the Academy has seen elsewhere, come up with themselves, or identified as a successful idea from one of their graduates. Graduates are given jobs as operators with the intent that these early operators will subsequently become owners of that current business and future franchisees in independent operations.

It is too early to give a definitive critique of the model, but I do think it has a number of strengths: early business risk being assumed by the sponsoring organization, a time of training before a transfer of ownership, and a built in mechanism for development of middle management.