In the franchising world, the Philippines stands out because it was one of the first countries in Asia to embrace the concept.
And decades after American companies introduced their business expansion system to the Philippines, the franchising sector continues to thrive.
In an e-mail interview with Business Friday, Philippine Franchising Association president Yvette Pardo-Orbeta, who also heads Wendy’s Philippines, shares how the sector performed last year and why there are many reasons to be bullish in 2010.
Q: How did the franchising industry perform last year?
A: Because of the global financial crisis, the franchise sector got off to a slow start because of cautious consumer outlook. But as the months rolled by and seeing that the Philippines was fairly insulated by the global financial crisis, consumer confidence began to improve, which made the Philippine franchising sector perform better than expected. In fact, some of our members even went ahead with their respective expansion plans and these were sustained by a growing number of Filipinos who had been made aware of looking for a more secure investment option, who became their franchisees. Worth noting are Mang Inasal’s nationwide expansion and Potato Corner’s foray in the US.Q: What were the biggest adjustments franchising companies had to do last year to weather the global crisis? Read on…