2. Company Description
2.2. Expansion Plans
educational experience. Abraham Academic Academy initially will serve the students and parents of Taiwan, but has the ambition to expand its services beyond its Taiwanese borders and to proceed into other countries.
2.2. Expansion Plans
2.2.1. Organic Growth ModelBefore Abraham Academic Academy can commence its franchising operations, we believe that we must first establish a set of corporate owned schools to serve as the franchising model that we intend to sell. Therefore, Abraham Academic Academy will begin building its education franchise through the implementation of its kindergarten program at its corporate flagship school. Once the kindergarten is up and running smoothly the first order of growth will be to expand the curriculum at that same school to include elementary school grades 1-4 (or 1-6, depending on the facility's size). The reason for this same facility expansion falls under the effective and efficient usage reasons that our model boasts about. The same facility described in our plans can be used to operate both a kindergarten and an elementary program.
The only difference would be an incremental increase in staff, equipment and supplies necessary to support the additional grades and the introduction of a new rotating schedule to shuffle them around.
The reason that we do not want implement both schools simultaneously is the potential risk to our brand’s image. This risk explains our desire to grow organically and our kindergarten can serve as the model to portray some of our organic growth elements. For example, a new staff using a new curriculum in a new environment would be stretched too thin trying to implement a more complicated, longer day schedule and could inadvertently affect the quality of our teachings and offerings. During this initial stage we want our staff to become familiar with the Abrahamic way, trained and prepared for the future and confident in the application of our business model. Abraham Academic Academy is more worried about the long-term harm than short-term good. Our plan is to grow organically and sequentially in terms of duplicating
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existing same school models (same ages/levels) and developing the next school level model (higher ages/levels) once the root school has worked out all the bugs and is operating smoothly. The 8 reasons for undergoing organic growth that follow are based on intuition and experience and form the basis for the establishment of our kindergarten before our elementary school:
1. Cost Associated With a Customer.
There are significant costs associated with acquiring new customers and losing dissatisfied customers through switching. Customers are more skeptical and judgmental of a school without a history and reputation. You only get one shot at impressing a new customer and if you lose them you lose all their friends. This is important to us since most of our marketing initially will be grassroots oriented involving word of mouth. We want to ensure that our customers are happy and satisfied, so their friends and family will follow.
2. Curriculum.
The running of both schools simultaneously would be too time demanding. It would prevent us from developing new curriculum and from thoroughly testing and experimenting on the existing curriculum in order to improve/modify it. It is simply just not good enough to get by and teach as a sound curriculum is important for all future schools and members that will join our franchise.
3. Low Initial Enrollment Rate.
It may not be worthwhile and even dangerous to hire extra staff, buy extra equipment and procure unnecessary supplies needed for the smooth operation of the combined school.
Especially, since we expect a low initial rate of enrollment. It may be better to utilize what we have rather than to go out on a limb.
4. Staffing Considerations.
It is easier and cheaper to find staff to fill positions in a kindergarten (lower aged level school) and teach its required curriculum than in an elementary school (higher aged level school). Generally, by training and developing a lower aged school staff, we can promote
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those most capable and qualified to the next higher aged level school when that school is ready to be opened, thus reducing the strain on filling the new positions and beginning anew at another school. It is also easier for our staff to develop and modify a lower aged level school's curriculum. There are many transferrable benefits and fundamental skills that are more easily learned from developing a lower aged level curriculum first, which can be applied to a higher aged level curriculum later.
5. Self-Sustaining.
By growing in this fashion our kindergarten students will become our elementary school students. Our elementary school students will become our middle school students, and so on... This decreases the student recruitment pressure faced by a newly opened school.
6. Market Exists.
Taiwanese parents require daycare services and place a high level of importance on early childhood education, especially with regards to learning languages. Taiwanese beliefs coincide with research that supports language acquisition at an early age in terms of speed and fluidity.
7. Developed Tastes
In addition, a first time parent will not have defined and sophisticated tastes with regards to the education market. A kindergarten usually represents the first school that a parent will be associated with. Parents that have a child already in the system will have developed preferences and prejudices. It will be easier to recruit and appease these parents and then keep them in our franchise.
8. Relocating Staff.
We intend to fill new and empty positions through a staff relocation program. We will want to use existing people from an old school to set up a new school and to train the new people there. By building a solidly qualified staff at one school first, we can then target specific people and groom them for relocation purposes. Key personnel can be moved around based on their qualifications or potential. They can be used at a higher level school
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where positions are harder to fill, at a new school that needs an experienced person or at an existing school that is struggling. Key employees can be enticed by perks, benefits, or promotions. This is especially applicable in Taiwan due to a wage stagnation issue and limited opportunities for promotion in the industry.
2.2.2. Aggressive Growth Model
While an organic growth model is the best and safest way for a business to develop it is too slow for our purposes as dictated by market conditions. Thus, Abraham Academic Academy has developed expansion plans that intertwine the safety of an organic model with the speed and efficiency of a more aggressive one. As Abraham Academic Academy develops we plan to further refine and improve upon our aggressive growth model techniques so as to minimize risk and maximize growth. In time, as a strong and stable foundation establishes, we will be increasing our growth rate expectations and leaning towards our aggressive model.
The aggressive growth model is based on utilizing the existing infrastructure that does not have to be fully developed by Abraham Academic Academy. This option is primarily available to us because of the worldwide consolidation of the supplemental educational market that is currently underway. In this model, we would buy up bankrupt businesses, buy out underperforming businesses, or try to bring in to the Abrahamic fold existing businesses that are in operation and have the potential to do better.
The first strategy merely requires the usage of cash for the purchasing of potential schools to be exploited, whereas the merging of schools and the bringing of operational schools into the Abraham Academic Academy franchise will require more work. For this second situation, we use fear and exploit the facts and numbers that exist to reinforce our position, offer solutions to the problems they have and describe how joining will alleviate their pressures. It is through this market awareness and a modified franchise structure that we may entice members to join.
Our model has both financial and regulatory benefits and exceptions for entrepreneurs with existing schools in operation depending on the years that a particular school has been in operation together with its potential for growth with our guidance.
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programs and curricula and made blatantly apparent throughout our schools on walls and in classrooms. The instilment of our values and beliefs into our students and employees is a fundamental goal that is progressive. We have matched specific values with the different stages of our students’ development. Our beliefs begin with our vision and mission statements that reside in our value system.2.3.1. Vision
We believe that a higher education makes a crucial contribution towards a world-class knowledge society and we want to be that provider of a brighter future for our students. We want to help shape and develop the young promising minds of tomorrow through the instilment of our exceptional educational programs and curriculum.
We want to see our students functioning well both locally and internationally. Students who are grateful and happy with their educational choices that made them confident and ready for whatever tomorrow shall bring.
We want to provide our students’ children with the same life-lasting multicultural experience that opened their parents’ minds to explore understand and appreciate the beauty of the world with all its differences.
2.3.2. Mission
To provide real life opportunities by providing better educational opportunities. To create a world class curriculum that is both applicable and transferable to our students’ future. To build a localized curriculum that exceeds a countries national standards so as to provide our students opportunities though their own excellence and to build an international K-12 language program that opens the minds of our students and creates a well-rounded and worldly student that is ready to go wherever he or she desires.