Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/BrightStar Care


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was no consensus. With due recognition to Highking's oppose arguments, which are convincing, the discussion still seems to be balanced more or less equally (although it does seem to be tending towards keep, given Cunard's effective defense to keep the article). In the light of this view, I'm closing this Afd as one that could not reach clear consensus. Lourdes  18:58, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

BrightStar Care

 * – ( View AfD View log  Stats )

Alleged to be CSD G11 eligible, although I think it more to be an A7 article myself. There is just enough information in the article to justify an afd as opposed to a csd in this case, although to be honest I don't really think its going to matter which avenue this takes because its more than likely too soon for an article on the company. TomStar81 (Talk) 08:59, 25 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Keep - I have revisited this article and added many more sources. As of right now, don't believe I use any passing mentions, only cite the company's website once to try and be accurate with the number of locations, and have 24 in-depth reliable sources from all over the US. I apologize if I didn't use enough sources the first time around, and am not sure why after fixing anything that might be advertorial, this was then listed under deletion for a different reason. In-depth coverage of the company includes articles in the Washington Post, CNBC, Harvard Business School's case studies, and newspapers in Texas, Alabama, Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma, and it was the subject of a full episode of Undercover Boss on network television. I do think that when people are choosing homecare for their parents and relatives, that knowing about their choices is important--perhaps we should add more about it? I can see more articles than the 24 I've already added. Biostarter (talk) 09:26, 25 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Response The key part that you're missing is "intellectually independent" as per WP:ORGIND. Note: Independent content, in order to count towards establishing notability, must include original and independent opinion, analysis, investigation, and fact checking that are clearly attributable to a source unaffiliated to the subject. For example, the Havard Business School's case study in not intellectually independent as it contains no original opinion/analysis/etc as relies entirely on staff members and other connected people for information and data.  HighKing++ 16:22, 15 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Companies-related deletion discussions.  CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 11:00, 25 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Illinois-related deletion discussions.  CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 11:00, 25 September 2018 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
 * Delete. I cannot see the HBS case, but nothing else is an extensive reliable source. WaPo & CNBC are not in this case, as can be seen by reading them: WaPo is about the founder,  & his various enterprises, but gives only one paragraph to this one--it's mainly about his honey farm.   The CNBC is a pure interview with the founder, where he says whatever he wants to. The  other newspapers are PR notices or PR interviews. When a company opens a branch in a city, there's always a  PR piece in the local paper, unless the PR agent isn't doing even a basic job. The last sentence above is a justification for WP being a directory for health care facilities, which is not our purpose.  There's mpthingi n our article that would help them more than searching google.  DGG ( talk ) 13:59, 25 September 2018 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, North America1000 06:11, 3 October 2018 (UTC)

Keep per the significant coverage in multiple independent reliable sources.  This is a 31-page case study from Harvard Business School. From the abstract at https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51978Internet Archive: "BrightStar Care was a rapidly growing franchise of home health care agencies. Founded by husband and wife team JD and Shelly Sun as a single agency near Chicago in 2002, BrightStar had opened nearly 300 franchises across the United States by 2016, generating over $300 million in revenue. BrightStar was now a very different company from the one Shelly and JD had started during their first year of marriage. Shelly Sun, CEO, had decided to franchise the business in 2004, believing that the franchise model presented a relatively low-risk and high-return approach to growing BrightStar. As franchises began to sell, Sun quickly set about building scalable operations and infrastructure, including a centralized technology function and custom software for franchisees. As more and more locations opened around the United States, she focused on growing BrightStar’s national marketing profile and putting measures in place to distinguish BrightStar’s services as higher quality than those of its competitors. A shifting regulatory landscape and labor shortages posed challenges, but BrightStar continued to grow swiftly. As the company evolved and Sun attempted to spend more time away from headquarters, surveying the field and building relationships, she knew she needed a strong senior management team. Some members of her senior team had been with BrightStar for years, expanding their responsibilities as the company expanded, while others she recruited from outside. In the early 2010s, Sun was close to filling all BrightStar’s crucial executive roles but had to consider whether some longtime leaders were the right fit for the company’s current needs. As she thought through the composition of her senior team, she also revamped her board of advisors and pursued international franchising opportunities and a debt recapitalization. By early 2016, Sun was looking to the company’s next phase of growth while handing management of her executive team to BrightStar’s President and COO."  The article notes: "In this Salute to American Success, we’re taking a look at BrightStar Care, a provider of home care, child care and medical staffing services for individuals, families and healthcare facilities. It was founded in 2002 by Shelly and J.D. Sun. After hiring multiple companies to provide home care services for her husband’s grandmother, the couple decided to take a chance and create their own business which would supply all types of home care needs to customers. ... In 2005 the co-founders, seeing an opportunity to franchise their business model, decided to try franchising. Today, BrightStar Care has more than 300 units, two of which are company owned. By the end of 2016, the company plans to add about 50-60 additional units, and is in the process of expanding internationally, according to Sun."  The article notes: "Since launching franchise operations in August 2005, BrightStar has opened or signed more than 200 locations in 36 states. The company plans to have 400 total franchises by the end of 2012. The east side BrightStar, which covers two franchise territories, joins agencies in Novi, Ann Arbor, Brighton and Traverse City. ... BrightStar's three main business units are hospital staffing, home health care for older and disabled adults and what it calls Kid Care. Through Kid Care, BrightStar has baby sitters for every situation: sick-day child care for working parents, caregivers for well-baby and newborn care as well as specialized help for children with special needs, such as autism or Down syndrome."  The article notes: "Shelly Sun and her husband, J.D., started BrightStar Care, a health-care staffing company, a decade ago after failing to find suitable care for his grandmother. As CEO, Shelly Sun has taken the company to far-reaching success, helped by the fact that the franchise is smack in the middle of one of the hottest growing sectors of business: elderly care. BrightStar Care now has 180 franchisees with 260 locations, employs more than 50,000 health-care workers and services more than 31,000 customers every day. Besides running BrightStar, Sun is on the board of directors for the International Franchise Association, the industry's main trade association, has written a book, Grow Smart, Risk Less, and was even featured on CBS's popular show Undercover Boss last year."</li> <li> The article notes: "BrightStar Care, founded 10 years ago before becoming a franchise three years later, appears to be riding a demographic wave that creates 10,000 American 65-year-olds every day. The company has grown from one location, in Gurnee, to more than 250 across the country, caring for more than 32,000 families and employing 45,000 to 50,000 caregivers and others in any given month. Sun, 42, is matter-of-factly bold when asked where she sees the company, generating $225 million in annual revenue, 10 or 20 years from now. ... BrightStar also offers staffing services for a variety of businesses, from doctors' offices to school districts to nursing homes. Home-care workers can be plugged into one of these settings while waiting for their next home-care placement. ... The business was a success almost from the start. Sun said it was revenue-positive in the fourth month and generated more than $1 million in the first year. They opened two more locations, then made the decision to franchise in 2005. The startup investment for a BrightStar franchise ranges from $88,279 to $152,040, with an additional franchise fee of $47,500."</li> <li> The article notes: "Shelly Sun and her husband, J.D., struggled to find good healthcare professionals with whom to entrust J.D.’s aging grandmother. The couple lived in Illinois, while “Grandma Pat” lived in Florida. The distance made it especially difficult to determine what services she would need, as well as the best providers, level of care and cost. That experience led to the blueprint of BrightStar Care, which the Suns launched in 2002 in Lake County, Ill. The company provides a variety of home-healthcare and medical-staffing services. Initially, Shelly spent a great deal of time interviewing caregivers, healthcare professionals and even competitors to find out how the company could differentiate itself from others in the space and gain prominence among potential referral sources. Soon she saw they had tapped into a need. Within three years, BrightStar opened additional locations in Chicago and McHenry County, Ill. Around that time, Shelly’s mother-in-law, who was investing in two hotel franchises, asked Shelly to accompany her to a training session for new owners and managers. Shelly came away with the idea that BrightStar could work as a franchise, expanding much more quickly than if the Suns were opening new locations on their own. They had thoroughly documented each process as they opened and ran their McHenry and Chicago locations, giving them a head start in ensuring that the business model could be replicated. They sold their first franchise location in late 2005."</li> <li> The article notes: "Shelly Sun wouldn't take no for an answer. After producers from the CBS reality hit show 'Undercover Boss' put the CEO and co-founder of Gurnee, Ill.-based BrightStar Care through a screening process in April 2010, they informed her that the home health care company she founded with her husband in 2002 was smaller than they usually featured. Sun shot back a two-page letter, outlining the reasons she should be featured: At the time, there hadn't yet been a female CEO, and the show never had featured the founder of a company. ... CBS agreed, and at 8 p.m. Sunday, Sun will watch her experience visiting some of the 223 franchises across the country for the first time along with the rest of the country."</li> <li> The article notes: "BrightStar Franchising began in Gurnee, Illinois, in 2005. Rather and Tews bought the Madison territory in 2006. The Madison location was the fourth BrightStar location. Now, more than 288 territories are open around the U.S. The Madison office has branches in Janesville, which opened in 2007, Baraboo (2009) and La Crosse (2012). BrightStar Senior Living is a new assisted living concept. The pilot location opened in Madison in February 2014. Now that the model has been proven, Rather and Tews are buying this location. BrightStar will sell this franchise concept as well as the home care/staffing concept."</li> </ol>There is sufficient coverage in reliable sources to allow BrightStar Care to pass Notability, which requires "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject". Cunard (talk) 06:58, 3 October 2018 (UTC) </li></ul> <div class="xfd_relist" style="border-top: 1px solid #AAA; border-bottom: 1px solid #AAA; padding: 0px 25px;"> Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, North America1000 02:10, 10 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Delete I am unable to locate any references that meet the criteria for establishing notability (including the ones listed by Cunard). Most references fail WP:ORGIND. Topic fails GNG and WP:NCORP. <b style="font-family: Courier; color: darkgreen;"> HighKing</b>++ 00:32, 16 October 2018 (UTC)
 * To add. On the point of the Havard Business School case study, I've read it and leaving aside the fact that it states on the first page that it was reviewed and approved before publication by a company designate and includes over two pages of company bios of the people that "helped" with the report (therefore not intellectually independent especially if the company *approved* it before publication), leaving all that aside, I cannot identify one statement that includes original and independent opinion, analysis, investigation, and fact checking that are clearly attributable to a source unaffiliated to the subject. Also, the quotation by Cunard is not from the actual case study itself but from a "summary" which is deceptive. <b style="font-family: Courier; color: darkgreen;"> HighKing</b>++ 15:41, 16 October 2018 (UTC)


 * Keep leaving aside the Harvard study, there is still significant reliable sources coverage for WP:CORPDEPTH to be passed such as The Detroit News, The Chicago Tribune, Fox,  Wisconsin Journal, regards Atlantic306 (talk) 19:46, 17 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Response Hi, would you mind taking another look? References to meet the criteria for establishing notability are different that the standards for reliable sources. Commenting on the specific sources you mentioned, the Chicago Tribune reference relies nearly entirely on an interview with the founders, fails WP:ORGIND. The Fox reference likewise relies on an interview, fails WP:ORGIND. The Detroit News reference is a feature on a franchisee and there is no evidence of any intellectually independent opinion/analysis/etc. Finally the Winsconsin Journal is also a feature on a franchisee again with no evidence of any intellectually independent opinion/analysis/etc as required. All those references fail WP:ORGIND as per Independent content, in order to count towards establishing notability, must include original and independent opinion, analysis, investigation, and fact checking that are clearly attributable to a source unaffiliated to the subject. <b style="font-family: Courier; color: darkgreen;"> HighKing</b>++ 11:56, 18 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Articles that combine interviews with independent analysis are acceptable for WP:CORPDEPTH as I specifically asked about this during the discussion of the new drafting. A number of these sources include independent analysis as for example The Chicago Tribune article includes the analysis of a franchise expert from a seperate concern, and the reporter also comments on the failure of one of the franchises where wages were undercut - that is obviously not pr. The articles about individual franchises include information on the main company and are also acceptable Atlantic306 (talk) 16:18, 18 October 2018 (UTC)
 * The expert is from FranNet who have provided services to BrightStar. Also, members of FranNet and Brightstar sit on the board of directors together on the International Franchise Association. They've done numerous interviews together and are both in the business or promoting franchising. The comment about "Not every franchise has been a success" is also clearly a statement from Matt Quandt, Brightstar senior marketing manager. Still not intellectually independent, still fails WP:ORGIND. <b style="font-family: Courier; color: darkgreen;"> HighKing</b>++ 15:05, 19 October 2018 (UTC)


 * Keep per Cunard's convincing analysis of sources, meets GNG. Sam Sailor 05:27, 18 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Response And this is why Cunard's method of selectively quoting extracts (while omiting damning sections) is disruptive. None of Cunard's sources above meet the criteria for establishing notability. Not one. There is not a single shred of intellectually independent analysis/opinion/investigation/etc in any of those references. <b style="font-family: Courier; color: darkgreen;"> HighKing</b>++ 11:56, 18 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Comment: Quoting the case study's abstract is not "deceptive". The Harvard Business School case study interviews many people affiliated with BrightStar. But it also has independent analysis of the subject. The case study notes: "As part of a quality-focused strategy, BrightStar set a higher bar for entry than its competitors; its net-worth and liquid-capital requirements for new owners were both more demanding (see Exhibit 9 for BrightStar’s franchisee requirements and characteristics). Even with these stringent standards for franchisees, the company grew rapidly." The case study also notes: "Despite BrightStar franchises’ favorable performance, labor supply was a challenge for owners, as it was throughout the home-care industry." The case study further notes that "Changing labor regulations also impacted the company" and discusses a 2015 National Labor Relations Board ruling and Seattle's new minimum-wage law. The case study notes: "Professor Boris Groysberg, Gender Initiative Director Colleen Ammerman, and independent researcher John D. Vaughan (President's Program in Leadership (PPL) 2012) prepared this case. This case is part of the YPO/OPM research project. It was reviewed and approved before publication by a company designate. Funding for the development of this case was provided by Harvard Business School and not by the company. HBS cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or ineffective management" That the case study was "reviewed and approved before publication by a company designate" means that the company found no factual inaccuracies in the study and did not find that Harvard misrepresented any of the company's officers. The case study says that funding was "provided by Harvard Business School and not by the company" and that "Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements" so I do not consider the editorial integrity or independence of the case study's authors to be compromised. The Chicago Tribune article provides analysis of the subject such as (my bolding): "BrightStar Care, founded 10 years ago before becoming a franchise three years later, appears to be riding a demographic wave that creates 10,000 American 65-year-olds every day. The company has grown from one location, in Gurnee, to more than 250 across the country, caring for more than 32,000 families and employing 45,000 to 50,000 caregivers and others in any given month." The article further notes: "Not every franchise has been a success. A New York BrightStar franchisee closed in 2011, later pleading guilty to not paying workers and agreeing to pay back wages. Matt Quandt, BrightStar senior marketing manager, said the case was isolated. [quote from Quandt]" This is independent coverage of the company because BrightStar would prefer that the Chicago Tribune not say "Not every franchise has been a success". BrightStar clearly would not want the Chicago Tribune to even mention that one of its franchisees "ple[d] guilty to not paying workers and agree[d] to pay back wages". Cunard (talk) 03:28, 21 October 2018 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. <b style="color:red">Please do not modify it.</b> Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.