Q3 | 2006

Finding Help

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FEATURE

Recent Amendments to Franchise Regulation in Spain

Small changes in design and technology cause big boosts in productivity and creativity

World Culture Tips: Spain

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What Makes a Franchise Great for Women

If you're looking to add women franchisees--and according to every statistic, you should be (more are looking, and more have the means and skills), then you should know what women want (our apologies to the movie).

Linda C. Ray

Staffing up a young company takes creativity

Edible Arrangements had three stores in 2002. By August 2006, there were 527, with locations in Canada, Puerto Rico, the U.K., and the Middle East. Currently adding stores at the rate of eight or more a week, the company predicts 1,000 units in early 2007. Staffing up for growth this steep requires some serious hiring: HR, meet ASAP.

Eddy Goldberg

Sales To Go

Outsourcing has become an accepted method for companies to solve staffing needs. It's a strategy that allows firms to benefit from specific expertise--without the accompanying expense. Mostly, it's been applied to functions like HR, accounting, and payroll. Today, franchisors can outsource their franchise development.

Eddy Goldberg

Canada's East Coast Provinces Pursue Interest in Franchise Law

Last year, while many Canadians and Americans alike were considering a summer vacation to experience all that Canada's Atlantic Coast has to offer, legislators in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, two of Canada's maritime provinces, were setting their minds to franchising.

Lawrence Weinberg and Jayne Westlake

Boosting Diversity in Franchising

Statistical information speaks volumes. Take the 2002 U.S. Census. It points out that the composition of the U.S. population will continue to change quickly, with minorities projected to become the majority by 2050. There is also rapid growth taking place in the number of minority-owned businesses. Their numbers exceed 4.1 million; they generate 4.8 million jobs and almost $700 billion in gross receipts.

Joan Szabo

Chief operating officers for franchise companies face challenges with creativity, humor

They may not be the most visible, or even among the highest-paid executives in the company. But in the daily trenches of running a franchise system, chief operating officers, or COOs, are the go-to people for other executives, staff, and franchisees. Most come in early and stay late, taking only brief vacations and then doing so with cell phone in hand.

Debbie Selinsky

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Teacher-turned-franchise exec to succeed her father as Kitchen Tune-Up president

If someone had told Heidi Morrissey 20 years ago that she'd wind up as heir apparent to the family business, Kitchen Tune-Up, she would have probably rolled her eyes in that way that only a teenager can. And if her four siblings had dared to suggest that she, of them all, was most like their master-salesman father, she'd have repeated the eye roll and added an indignant snort.

Debbie Selinsky

Accelerated franchise growth outstrips supply

2006 is a good year to be in the franchise recruitment business. That's because it's a good year for franchising. As franchising heats up, the demand to fill positions also intensifies----and so does competition for GOOD people to fill them.

Eddy Goldberg

A different approach to drafting franchise agreements

I have written often on the subject of the complexity of franchise agreements, and the clear trend over the past four decades to make them even longer and more complex. Why has this trend developed?

Rupert M. Barkoff

Driving Direct Leads: Are you doing all you can to boost local sales?

National franchise operations have marketed in the same ways for years and years. That is, the national budgets were applied to brand building and the local franchisees were charged with creating local lead flow.

John Federman

The growing potential of the urban market

One-third of the nation's population is "minority" (U.S. Census), but only about 10 percent of franchises are minority-owned (National Minority Franchise Initiative). Or, to look at it another way, 90 percent of franchises are not minority-owned.

Eddy Goldberg

How Franchisors Have Failed at International Master Franchising, and What They Can Do to Succeed in the Future

What was happening in the franchisor community? The Italian legislature had proposed that no franchisor be allowed to offer franchises in Italy unless it had a history of operating at least two units in the country before it began franchising. Ultimately, Italy adopted a more flexible experience standard. Then China adopted a two-unit, one year of experience standard as a precondition for franchising there in its 2004 Franchise Measures.

Carl E. Zwisler

Building from the Bottom Up

Staffing accounts for well over 50 percent of a franchise company's expenses, says Charlie Simpson, executive vice president and chief operations officer at Great Clips. And at Great Clips, he says, that figure is probably over 60 percent. Lowering that number can help a company compete--on price, in the short term. But when hiring for success, there are more important considerations than money.

Eddy Goldberg