Grow or Die
Most people reading this article will be glad to see the back of the year that was 2009. Like many other businesses, yours was probably characterized by one word: survival. But while the past year saw the acronym GFC (global financial crisis) come into daily use, over the coming financial...
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Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn – the risks with online social networking
Once considered a distraction, online social networking has changed the way businesses communicate and interact with customers and staff (and vice versa). Social networking is a category of websites and services built around user-generated content and community networking. Popular examples include Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Businesses attempting to leverage social...
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Instilling owner motivation in employees
Most business are capable of at least 10% extra performance. The key is motivating the right individuals. Many businesses can learn from Flight Centre’s experience. Most Australian networks rely too heavily on remuneration incentives to motivate employees. Unfortunately, incentives generally fail to produce the desired outcomes because they do...
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A start up? Don't wind me up
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Managing Serious Growth
Managing serious growth is a complex series of decisions, timing and interactions that is a tough test for even the best management team. Here's a focus on the practical challenges and issues to be confronted if ongoing success is to be enjoyed.
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Succession Planning – It’s not all about the people
Succession planning has always been an issue for business owners to confront, develop a plan and make happen. A primary challenge is the almost exclusive focus on the people component, which is only one piece of operating a successful business. An increasing number of businesses are having to tackle this...
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Can thrift be an asset?
The presence of thrift within a business and its people is an asset many businesses do not possess. As a business grows cash flow, activities, decentralisation, people and cost structures gather momentum. Why do people wait for a competitor threat or economic slow down to stimulate cost management? The ability...
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Multi-brand strategies - a future trend?
As franchising grows in Australia so are the number of franchisors that operate more than the one brand. Rod Young from DC Strategy discusses the multiple-brand strategy. They may be disparate brands, not related to each other except they occupy retail shopping centre space. For example, the Pets Paradise, Warner...
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Remuneration incentives ... who needs them?
Remuneration incentive programs are moving down from the senior executive ranks and out of the traditional sales departments. More and more businesses are realising that the actual question is: can we do without them? Well-known Melbourne kitchen and homeware accessory retailer, Matchbox â , implemented their remuneration incentive program in...
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Branches in Finance – coming or going?
If the 1990's was a roadmap for the future of distribution in banking, the recent growth in branch numbers by Bendigo Bank, Bank of Queensland, Aussie, ANZ and NAB to name a few, indicate a map well past its use by date. The continuing evolution of distribution within financial services...
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Cost cutting – misunderstood?
How do you increase profits in times of economic slow downs or increased competition? There are important elements to consider if strategic cost reduction is to be implemented. To avoid the negative connotations that employees may have with cost cutting, it is necessary to differentiate between simple...
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Will Cooperatives survive today’s business environment
A cooperative structure is jointly owned and run by its members for the benefit of its members. The most common rationale for the cooperative structure was the power brought about by the aggregation of purchasing and creating economies of scale unachievable for a single entity. This often, but not...
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Founder Effect – True or False?
A founder can be a businesses best asset and worst liability - it’s usually a question of timing. The real challenge in scaling any business is how to combine the unique skills required to start a business with those a business requires during growth or mature years. There are many...
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Building a network and a brand
Creating a large business — whether franchised or not — from small beginnings is the challenge of creating a recognisable brand which delivers on what it promises. Adrian McFedries provides some insight to the key issues that many businesses tackle when scaling up a business from small to large The...
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How effective is your sales channel?
By demystifying the sales process, businesses are able to demonstrate that selling is more a process than an art. Removing the perceived “art of selling” creates opportunities to improve sales effectiveness and performance. Far too many organisations train their sales people in the features and benefits of their...
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Structure – get it right from the start
Starting out with the right organisational structure can save a lot of time, money and heartache in the future. A simple company structure may be suitable in the early days but as the business grows more complex, the wrong structure can limit growth Most businesses realise they are operating...
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Scaling a small business
The very thing that makes a small business successful – the role of the founder and its operating systems – is often what challenges significant growth and the transition from a small business to a medium / large enterprise. So what does corporatising a small business involve?...
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Succession planning and exiting a business
Succession planning is more than the process of replacing people. At a broader level, it is positioning a business for sale to allow the impending exit of the existing shareholders. The topic of succession planning too often has an almost exclusive focus on the people. The sale value...
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Motivating employees – the role of incentives
It is common knowledge that the owner-operator effect results in a significant uplift in performance. However, an attempt to produce a similar uplift with employees can prove difficult, and a drain on the bank balance. Owner-operators are driven, in some part, by the prize at the end of...
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Lessons from behind the arches
Spending 24 years with the Golden Arches exposed me to the good, the bad and the ugly of growing a truly global franchising food retail brand. McDonald’s have an outstanding success story made possible by trying new things, pushing boundaries, making mistakes but mostly learning from them. Here are some...
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Succession Planning – positioning the business for future leadership
Succession planning has always been an issue for business owners to confront, let alone plan and implement. A primary challenge is the almost exclusive focus on the people component, which is only one piece of operating a successful business. The changing demographic structure of society over the next 15 years...
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Affairs of the heart? The employee–organisation relationship
It may come as a surprise that despite strong emphasis placed on providing satisfactory remuneration, training opportunities and working conditions, people are still unhappy at work. Often, employees who are unhappy at their workplace remain in a job solely because they enjoy and derive fulfilment from the nature of their...
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Generation Y – what are they all about?
Stories of this techno savvy, opportunistic, well-educated and ambitious group of young workers are flooding the business press, but what does Generation Y mean for employers? Despite what some commentators suggest, Generation Y aren’t remarkably different to other generations. They want a good work-life balance, they want meaningful work, career...
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Remuneration incentive programs and work choices: the opportunity…
Work Choices opens up a whole area of opportunity for employers to strategically develop and implement a remuneration incentive program in order to add to their arsenal of competitive advantages. Work Choices has generated some considerable negative perception in the Australian workforce. Correspondingly there is now a significant opportunity to...
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The importance of loyalty programs – managing customer value
The need to “connect” with the customer is becoming more important resulting in companies revising their approach to marketing, in particular customer loyalty programs and tracking buying patterns. Traditionally, customer loyalty programs have provided benefits to consumers by rewarding them for their continued support. However, with continued desensitisation to mass...
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Innovation – what is it worth?
The search for the next big idea always seems to be on the agenda. Companies have been spending big to facilitate innovation in their organisations with a view of growing the business. With spend on innovation averaging 4% of network turnover and ranging between 0.5% to 20%, return on investment...
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M&A in Retail – where is it heading?
The current Australian landscape has anecdotally experienced a renewed focus on M&A activity in retail in the past 12 months. The ASX is on a run, earnings multiples remain reasonable, but there is a build up of demand and cash from retailers, funds, investors, and equity groups. Where will this...
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Remuneration incentives - simple but ineffective
The concept of skin in the game or variable pay structures is an area of business that is experiencing a renewed focus in response to the near full employment status of the Australian market and the increasing pressure on the fixed costs of business. Groups such as Flight Centre and...
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Is training all it is cracked up to be?
Training, coaching, seminars, HR, franchisee development and people development are but a few of the terms that have been used over recent years to describe the process of transferring knowledge and developing people. Is training all it is cracked up to be? The answer is naturally very subjective, but at...
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The secret of expansion
In a world of big box retailers, sophisticated consumers and international brands organisations are continuing to look to franchising as a catalyst for successful growth. Australia is no exception with estimated franchise sector revenues of AUD $90 billion for 2004. Australia will continue to embrace the strength of its infrastructure,...
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The corporatisation of franchising
Corporatisation is the process of developing the management structure and migration strategy of a small to medium enterprise to create an enduring business independent of the founder or single proprietor. The foundation set by corporatisation will allow the business to grow beyond the capacities of the owner/operator substantially increasing the...
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The great shopping centre heist
Rod Young, Executive Director of DC Strategy is one of Australia’s most experienced franchise consultants and DC Strategy has advised many of the nation’s leading franchise groups on strategies for growth. Many are situated in high traffic but high rent shopping centres. Franchise Magazine asked Rod and the DC Strategy...
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All for one, or one for all?
Has the cooperative structure had its day? The cooperative structure as a business model has been a feature of many of the most successful businesses in the world. The key question is whether the future will support the continued use of this business model or will it cease to exist...
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Writing the wrongs of user and operations manuals 
