Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Opening Expansion Opportunities in the Asia-Pacific Region
By : Franklin Go
President, PFA
Director – Membership Recruitment & Benefits
The Philippine Franchise Association (PFA) believes that the franchising sector can be a major dollar-earner and is committed to continue undertaking programs, projects and activities that will help open overseas expansion opportunities for its members. This commitment is articulated in PFA’s five-point goals for the years 2013 to 2015, which hopefully will redound to more Philippine franchise brands in the international markets.
Part of the strategy is to strengthen PFA’s partnerships with its foreign counterparts. This year, PFA signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Malaysian Franchise Association (MFA) and the Korea Franchise Association (KFA) to help open opportunities for Philippine franchise brands to expand in these countries.
Furthermore, as a member of the World Franchise Council (WFC) and the Asia Pacific Franchise Confederation (APFC), PFA has been able to promote Philippine franchise brands in international markets by participating in the franchise shows organized by our counterparts across the globe through reciprocal agreements.
Just recently, PFA attended the joint meetings of the WFC and APFC in Taiwan, where PFA was formally appointed as the new Secretariat of the APFC. More than a responsibility and a privilege, we see this as an opportunity to partner and collaborate with our colleagues in the Asia-Pacific region with the goal of opening overseas expansion opportunities for Philippine franchise brands – including and especially SMEs.
We have a special stake in this because more than 60% of PFA members are MSMEs. For this reason, we are devoting PFA resources towards strengthening the capabilities of our MSME members. Furthermore, PFA’s MSME Promotions and Development Committee, chaired by Mr Richard Sanz and ably supported by Dr Alan Escalona of Fruit Magic, is currently fine-tuning our Big Brother Mentoring Program to help MSMEs improve their business practices as well as encourage them to use franchising as a tool for expansion.
PFA has long believed that franchising can be an effective tool in the internationalization of MSMEs. In fact, a good number of Philippine franchise brands looking for international expansion opportunities are MSMEs. After all, a consumer from the overseas markets will not ask if the burger or flavoured French fries that he will eat or the spa products that he will apply to his body come from a large company or an SME. As long as that product conforms to global standards, he will buy that product.
Conformity to global standards, therefore, is the key to global competitiveness. A SME can become a global company if it conforms to global standards. Adherence to world-class standards is actually a great equalizer.
To help PFA members raise their global competitiveness, our Education Committee, chaired by Francorp’s Bing Sibal-Limjoco, is crafting capability-building programs such as the Franchise Management Course, which is being offered in partnership with the College of St Benilde.
We should also bear in mind that the global economy today is becoming increasingly integrated. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), internationally-traded goods have now lesser domestic content compared to how it was 10 or 20 years ago. Back in 1995, most of the exported products have 90% or more domestic content but today the domestic content of internationally-traded goods are getting lower and lower. Value chains are now crossing boundaries. Many of the world’s goods are now actually ‘Made in the World’.
Clearly, we have more to gain if we choose to collaborate rather than compete. That is why PFA, through the committee on ASEAN Integration, chaired by PFA Chairman Emeritus Samie Lim, is advocating that the proper attitude in facing the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is to make it a time to forge partnerships. Working together will bring more benefit to all; hence as PFA becomes the new APFC Secretariat, we will exert extra effort to open opportunities for collaboration among APFC members to help each member grow domestically, regionally and globally.
We hope that through these collaborative actions, APFC will enhance the role of franchising as a catalyst for economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region – an aspiration that becomes even more timely as the Philippines host the APEC summit next year.
According to data from WFC and APFC, there are more than 21,000 franchise brands in the Asia-Pacific region. These brands, in turn, create more than 2 million outlets which employ more than 18 million individuals. This is the economic impact of franchising and we hope to see the contribution of franchising to the regional economy continue to grow as trade and economic cooperation increases in the region.
The Philippines is a respectable contributor to the franchising industry in Asia-Pacific with more than 1,000 franchise brands creating more than 100,000 franchise outlets and generating about a million in employment. But it is also clear that there is still much room for growth for the Philippine franchise sector. As the global economy becomes more integrated – more so that PFA is now playing a key role in regional franchising – we hope to increase the sector’s contribution to the economy through the export of Philippine franchise brands.
And as franchising continues to grow in the region, we hope to see more of our members expanding across Asia-Pacific thus enhancing the image of the Philippines as a source of world-class brands.
But as we undertake these programs to help Philippine franchise brands go international, we are also mindful of our responsibility to help foreign franchise brands succeed in the Philippine market. After all, PFA is the voice of Philippine franchising. Our purpose is to serve the interest of the entire sector – from the smallest to the biggest, both home-grown and foreign. Admittedly, the multi-faceted needs of the sector pose challenges for PFA but we are committed to serve the sector by working for an enabling environment that will allow for inclusive growth to all players in the Philippine franchising sector.
As Director for Membership Recruitment and Benefits, I am resolute in making PFA a venue for growth for all our members – whether big or small, foreign or home-grown. Together with our PFA Chairman Yvette Pardo-Orbeta and PFA Vice Chairman Robert Trota and with the rest of the PFA Committee Chairs, we are committed to make PFA members reap the full benefits of the opportunities opening in ASEAN, in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
For inquiries call 687-0365 to 67
0932-8792732 ; 0917-8320732;
email pfa@pfa.org.ph visit www.pfa.org.ph
*Philippine Star , Business - B3 , October 13, 2014
*Business Mirror , Entrepreneur-F1 , October 15, 2014
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PFA together with U.S. Embassy, Manila Philippines present FREE WOMEN PROJECT !!!
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The beneficiaries of the said seminar should be:
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