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I. INTRODUCTION

The entity under study is one of the many chain stores of 7- Eleven, located at San Antonio Avenue corner Dr. A. Santos Avenue (Sucat Road), Sucat, Paranaque. The store, just like any other 7-Eleven stores is engaged into retail selling of products ranging from food, grocery items and other over the counter products. The store also offers services other than retail selling such as: prepaid cell phone loading services and serves as remittance center for common utility bill payments. The store is under the indirect auspices of the Philippine Seven Corporation (PSC) - the only licensed and recognized corporation to utilize and make use of the name of 7-Eleven along with its concepts. It is currently operating under a management franchise contract, into which all management functions, as far as the store is concerned, will be performed by the franchisor, that in turn, will entitle him to a management fee. Revenues generated by the store ranges from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 pesos per month and profits ranging from 500,000 to 700,000 pesos per month. It caters to all people with varying social strata; most of its customers come from the nearby common establishments. The store is located in a common area wherein it shares its location with other businesses and local establishments such as hardware stores, commercial banks, shopping plazas, travel agencies, residential subdivisions and villages, schools and the local city hall. As of press time, the store maintains seven (7) employees that perform multi-tasked, all around store functions trailing a shifting schedule. The store building is being leased under a contract of five years subject to renewal two years from now.

In order to have an idea of the franchisee - Philippine Seven Corporation, a brief profile of the company, as derived from the Wright Reports website, is presented below:

"Philippine Seven Corporation - The Group's principal activities are the retailing, merchandising, buying, selling, marketing, importing, exporting, franchising, acquiring, holding, distributing, warehousing, trading, exchanging or otherwise dealing in all kinds of grocery items, dry goods, food or foodstuffs, beverages, drinks and all kinds of consumer needs or requirements and in connection therewith, operating or maintaining warehouses, storages, delivery vehicles and similar or incidental facilities. It is also engaged in the management, development, sale, exchange, and holding for investment or otherwise or real estate of all kinds, including buildings, houses, apartments and other structures. At 31-12-2004, the Group operates 257 stores, 15 of which are franchise stores, 37 stores are operated under a service agreement, and the rest are company owned stores."

II. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY

The study required data that are imperative in the conduct of both internal and external audits of the company. Data were derived from the performance and evaluation of different functional areas traceable only to a single identifiable unit - the franchisor. Data relevant to the study were gathered from library, internet sources (mostly for external data), personal interviews and internal documents and reports (for internal data). The study sets its focal point on the franchisor's perspective since looking into the franchisee's (Philippine Seven Corporation) standpoint will only yield to more complication. Hence, it should be made clear that some information particularly those pertaining to the financial aspects of the company were only assumed by the writer, exhausting all material and relevant basis for computing such and were derived from documents gathered and through casual observations. Furthermore, as this study is limited only to one of PSC's chain retail stores, the word "store" will be used throughout this paper simply referring to the company under study. Likewise, it should be made clear that this study will be recommending strategies limited and only to the extent of capacity by the current management under the aforementioned franchise contract. Thus, recommendations to be rendered at the end must be understood to be only for the store and its current condition and not beyond. However, certain portions of this paper departed from such a perspective and mentioned some points with reference to the whole of Philippine Seven Corporation. Such a departure is evident especially in the presentation of the conduct of external analysis. Lastly, it should be also made clear that at the point of conducting this study, the store is under a new management that took over only about 8 months ago.

III. VISION AND MISSION STATEMENTS

Every 7 - eleven store aligns its vision and mission in accordance with the general vision and mission statement of the Philippine Seven Corporation. Hence, the store recognizes the statements presented hereafter:

Corporate Vision

Our vision is to be the recognized leader in providing time-conscious consumers with a full-range of products and services that meet their ever-changing daily needs. We will be the customer-preferred convenience store by:

Exceeding customer expectations through quality, speed, selection, and value in a safe and pleasant environment

Treating our employees with dignity and respect

Recognizing our franchisees and suppliers as business partners

Being a good corporate citizen

Achieving our vision and continued growth will provide our shareholders with a better than competitive return on their investment.

Mission Statement

To offer time-conscious customers a full range of products and services that meet their ever-changing daily needs through quality, speed, selection and value in a safe, friendly and pleasant environment.

Analysis of the Vision and Mission Statements

The abovementioned vision and mission statements were formulated by the Philippine Seven Corporation (PSC), circulated and in certain occasions, posted in every 7-eleven outlet/store. There may be a clear substance found in these statements, however, it still seems to be lacking of very important elements that should never be discounted.

The Vision Statement, indeed answered the basic question, "What do we want to become?". However, the vision statement of the company is quite lengthy that one may find it hard to communicate even to internalize. Indeed, as per the interviews conducted with the employees, they seemingly had