Now For The Intrapreneur

SmartCompany.com.au:

In observing franchising in Australia and after visiting the United States, I have noticed a difference in the approach to the franchise relationship taken by the franchisors of both countries.

In the main, Australian franchisors are generally more concerned about the long-term viability of the relationship after the sale, whereas the American counterparts tend to be more focused on selling franchises rather than the after-sale relationship.

Of course there are exceptions on both sides, but I feel that this key difference in approach often causes problems for US systems entering foreign markets.

This may explain why our coastline is littered with the shipwrecks of US systems that tried and failed to enter the Australian market, who in their haste to do a deal did not take the time and effort to understand the vagaries and nuances of the Australian way of life and customise their business model accordingly.

Indeed more than one major US brand (now a household name in Australia) failed at least once before finally establishing sustainable operations here.

Because Australians speak the same language and lead similar lifestyles to Americans, it might be understandable that they may occasionally overlook the other differences that create a cultural gap between us.

But when franchising to a non-English speaking country, the same mistakes are still made, as I discovered on a visit to Germany in late 2005 where I was reliably informed by the head of the German franchise association (Deutsche Franchise Verband) that one US-based system was granting franchises without yet translating its operations manuals into German.