President of the European DIY Retail Association Manfred Maus speaks to Daniel Schleidt about his experiences as a franchisor in Germany.
‘Franchising is like getting married. If you accept the wrong partner in your system you may ruin your franchise model and network. Franchising is all about providing a service. Rendering service to the customers must be part of the franchise corporate culture: franchisor to franchisees, franchisees to the end customer.
Q: How did you become a franchise pioneer in Germany?
MM: In the 1960s I launched home & garden do-it-yourself store OBI. My idea was to consolidate the small to medium-size industries and family businesses by bringing them together under one brand. This was a means to help them in the long-term better compete with the bigger distribution groups. In this fashion, franchising in Germany came into being.
Q: Since that beginning, quite a lot has happened in franchising in Germany. Today people talk about a boom.
MM: I have followed the development of franchising very closely, and I think that in Germany today we have great opportunities of developing franchising so that it becomes one of the best entrepreneurial formats with which to grow independent businesses and create employment. The Deutsche Franchise Verband’s (German Franchise Association) current objective is a campaign to create 200,000 jobs in franchising, in particular through the internationalisation of indigenous brands.
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