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FRANCHISING has made headway outside the Philippine
capital, generating jobs and contributing to the
country’s developing rural areas, a franchisers’ group’s
survey on Wednesday revealed.
An
expert also said franchising would be better this year
as the US economy stalls and high world oil prices put
pressure on generating wealth.
The
Philippine Franchise Association (PFA) revealed that the
number of Filipinos putting up businesses under existing
brands and another person’s system has been increasing
for three years now since 2005.
The PFA,
which opened its 16th Philippine International Franchise
Conference to half a thousand delegates, said that after
three years, more than 200,000 franchise outlets have
been put up. With each outlet having an average of five
employees, the sector generated a million jobs.
“While
bulk of these outlets is in the National Capital Region,
the Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog regions in Luzon
are not far behind,” the PFA said in a statement.
Citing a
survey it did, the PFA said Western Visayas and Northern
Mindanao are the fourth and fifth major areas,
respectively, hosting these franchise outlets.
“Most of
the market is still in Metro Manila,” PFA chairperson
Ma. Alegria Limjoco said. She added this market size
attracted brands in other island provinces. “This
doesn’t mean, however, that the successes of franchising
are confined to the capital alone.” Limjoco stressed
that franchising helps not only in economic dispersal
but also to “level the playing field.”
The PFA
study said the whole sector accounts for 5 percent of
the country’s total gross domestic product for the years
2005 to 2007. The group claims the sector contributed an
estimated P106.75 billion to the Philippine economy.
That is
just P50 million lower than the P154.8-billion gross
sales last year of San Miguel Corp., which has 15,252
employees.
Chris
Simnick, president and founder of Synergy Franchise
Development Inc., said during the conference that the
impact of a stalled US economy on the Philippines is no
cause for alarm.
“In
fact, the deeper the recession, the better it is for
franchising,” Simnick stressed.
Simnick,
who spoke on “Secrets of Franchising Success” during the
conference, said the only secret is “working hard.”
According to Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya, the
franchising industry’s success is also anchored on
sharing information.
“Among
SMEs, it is the franchisees which have the better chance
of flourishing—with the success rate being placed at 65
percent,” Maglaya said in her keynote address at the
conference.
“Buying
a franchise is acquiring a built-in market, a proven
product, an entire support system and instant
credibility,” she added.
Maglaya
urged franchise owners to “clone” their businesses and
go international for expansion. |
