Entry Negative Two -2

Entry Negative Two -2 is an entry moving backwards from Entry Zero 0, in a reversed-chronology manner.

I was very very shocked to receive the news that our proposal for the Vietnamese coffee franchise was rejected by the company's top management.

I didn't understand what did we do wrong.

It has been almost 1 year since our initial discussion with the company. Although the progress was rather slow, the indications were positive. We have submitted our business plan and strategy, our financial commitment, our business development schedule. We were told that our proposal fits the company's requirements.

So why was our proposal being rejected at the final moment? Rejected at the brink of signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)? I didn't understand. I have requested from the company's top management to know what was the true reason behind it. I have requested an audience with the company's top management to present our proposal.

Several days later, I got my answer. I was excited to see an email titled: "feedback from CEO". The top management has decided to approve our proposal only if we agreed to their latest franchise commitment. Initially I thought this was a good news, finally the process is coming to an end. We can finally stop talking and start working.

However, further analysis of this franchise commitment reveals otherwise.