Brazil is the third largest country in number of franchising (behind the
US and Canada). From 1987 to 1994 it grew 30% per year, but last year it
stopped to grow (limits to grow?!). Some companies are now trying to
figure out new ways to substitute the traditional Business Format
Franchising. BFF was the main reason for this tremendous growth for 7
years, but it has been limiting companies ability to learn and innovate,
which have became very important to them.
I think franchising could provide a fruitful field to experimentation.
They are already a network of entrepreneurs - a lot of manufacturing and
services companies are trying to become one - almost independent nowadays,
but who need to become more and more interdependent. Developing a shared
vision, learning in teams at distance, understanding collectively the
dynamics of their business are some of the critical issues to them.
I will be happy to hear other comments about this subject. Does anyone
know about experiences of implementing organizational learning concepts
and tools in franchising?
Respectfully,
--Tacito Tacito Velloso Nobre <taciton@usp.br>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>