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What does McDonald’s have in common with a rural health clinic in Pakistan?

7/28/2015

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McDonald’s has famously been using a franchise model to grow its global business, for the most part highly successfully. Similarly, Greenstar, an NGO-backed network of reproductive health clinics in Pakistan has successfully employed franchising to bring healthcare to the poor. Recently, when researching such social business models, I noticed both commonalities as well as differences.

Around the globe, and particularly in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, there are number of 'social franchises' offering affordable quality services to low-income populations. Greenstar, with a network of 7,500 clinics and close to four million patient visits so far, is among the bigger ones.

While social franchise models have the potential to deliver a variety of services with a social value, many such models focus on health, particularly family planning and other reproductive health services. So what do they have in common with a fast food company? And what are the differences?

Social health franchises share the same goals of expansion and financial sustainability as McDonald’s. However, while conventional, commercial franchising is essentially about maximising both franchisors’ and franchisees’ profits, social franchising aims to maximise social impact.

Why do social franchises, including health providers in rural Pakistan, need to make a profit you may ask? Well, mostly to ensure financial sustainability, i.e. to make sure health services continue to be provided and made available to the poor at a reasonable quality. In other words, profits, even though they are often rather small, are an important incentive for health providers to offer their services. After all, not many McDonald’s outlets would exist if they weren’t making a profit!

Nevertheless, there are important differences. While aiming at profitability at the franchisee end of the spectrum, many health franchises, such as Greenstar in Pakistan, are not profitable at the franchisor end and may rely on (public or private) grants and donations to provide training, quality assurance, brand building and other services to their network of franchised providers.

Social franchising thus constitutes an excellent and efficient entry point for private and public donors and impact investors: They get to support an established network of franchised health service providers (e.g. clinics) that cater particularly to the poor in heard-to-reach areas. In other words, they get to make an impact in areas which purely commercial models are unable or unwilling to reach.

And I do wonder what a woman in rural Pakistan might buy for the price of a cheeseburger...



2 Comments
resume writer australia link
12/16/2019 12:38:12 am

This is one thing that they need to do, though. I understand that it is not ethical for them to disclose this kind of information, but they should definitely try it. I believe that this will really help medical practitioners get what the patient needs. I hope that we can't start doing this, I really do believe that it can help our medical technology. I will try to propose this to the hospital that I am currently working for at this moment.

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HVAC Contractors Wayne link
9/16/2022 06:18:12 am

This is aweesome

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    This Blog discusses a range of topics from social development to sustainable business. I get inspired in all sorts of settings: when working with women in rural areas of Africa on demanding better healthcare from the authorities; when working with large multinationals on measuring their social impact; when teaching students from around the globe on sustainable business and management for the future; when writing reports about politics and happiness; or when discussing my own work-life balance with family and friends. I also discuss selected photos. Please enjoy, share and comment - THANK YOU!

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