Corven's blog

The ACCC’s Chairman Rod Sims opened the National Franchise Convention in October last year by stating that franchising is an “important part of the Australian economy ... [but] the sector has at times suffered from a poor image.” A new research study will be launched today that will determine the role of franchisor education in improving this image.

We were grateful to recently receive PwC’s 2011 Franchise Sector Indicator Report in the mail... Thanks guys!

It’s another positive story, from both a qualitative and quantitative perspective, on growth and change within the Australian franchise sector. To celebrate, we have cherry picked a couple of insightful comments and findings to continue the discussion sparked by the Report.

It’s Adult Learners Week, we’re celebrating and loving the theme of “It’s only the beginning: Later Life Learning and Career Shifting”

Greg Nathan of the Franchise Relationships Institute recently shared best practices with 50 franchise executives at a Learning and Development Forum organised by the Franchise Council of Australia.

We were pleased to see the Member for Southern River Peter Abetz MLA in the audience at the recent Franchising Bootcamp, as part of the Franchise Expo that was on in Perth last weekend. Abetz has been a keen driver of changes to franchising in the west.

The 1.5 hour Franchising Bootcamp comprises of an overview of franchising by the Franchise Council of Australia which is followed by a panel discussion and open forum with current franchisees, facilitated by Corven’s Julia Camm.

Last night’s budget centrepiece was the $715 million skills package that comes off the recommendations from Skills Australia and the Productivity Commission’s report Vocational Education and Training Workforce Research Report issued last week.

Combined, they all turn up the heat on franchisors and workplace trainers to deliver on expectations.

Over 1000 franchisors are responsible for developing business management and operational capabilities to over 69,000 current franchisees yet this enormous potential for VET education mostly goes unnoticed.

Coven has been claiming for some time that the Australian franchise sector is one of the nation's largest, yet unrecognised, providers of vocational education and training. Yet, franchise systems remain disconnected from the Vocational Education and Training [VET] sector.

Here are some great words of advice from the current franchisees who participated in the April round of Franchising Bootcamps at the Sydney Franchising Expo:

Ask yourself what your Return on Investment needs to be in regards to money and lifestyle.

When you become a franchisee you actually change bosses. You new bosses are the bank, your team, customers and family.

We’re up to our ears at the moment in due diligence, as we tart up the final draft of our 2010 study on the role of pre-entry education and due diligence for prospective business owners.  

While our ‘industry of interest’ at the moment is franchising, what we’ve discovered applies to anyone considering a business opportunity or even a career sea change. So, when reading this, our fair non-franchising friends, simply replace the word ‘franchising’ with business or career.

So, you wanna be a franchisee...?

Being a success is anything, including being a franchisee, all comes down to what you do. Did you know that great aim of education is not knowledge, but action? We didn’t say that, a darling friend of ours Herbert Spencer did ... and it’s so true! We may learn stuff through education and experiences, but it is what we do with that knowledge that is the kicker.