Calypso Consulting

McDonalds recently reported that they plan to open 175 new outlets in China in 2009.  Other franchises are following suit.  Century 21 is reportedly doing well in China.  Subway has been growing rapidly.  KFC was the first Western franchise to China and still seems to dominate the landscape. 
Many people who do not live here have asked how they can become a leader in China.  These days it is pretty difficult to get a job in China unless you can speak the language and/or have a level of business expertise that is not present here.  However, the other approach is to buy a franchise.  I know NOTHING about how one goes about it.  I have been told however, that a good source to learn about this is FranChina (www.franchisetochina.com).
Even with a small business like a franchise however, many of the same leadership style issues are present that occur in bigger firms.  When I wrote my book, I was really focusing on the bigger firms.  But many franchise experts have told me that the same issues reside in their smaller enterprises.