Farrah Rose, Director of International Franchise Development at the York based The Franchising Centre, has recently returned from being invited to speak at the prestigious International Distribution Institute conference in Florence, one of the world’s leading events for the professional distribution industry.
Ms Rose had been invited by the moderator, John H Pratt from Hamilton Pratt solicitors, the UK leading specialists in Franchise law, to be on a panel discussing The Role of Business Consultants in Deciding the Appropriate Strategy for Getting and Keeping Control at the Retail Level.
Throughout the talk, the panel looked at identifying the various workings of franchising through distribution channels as well as assessing how to use franchising practices to help manufacturers get their goods to retail so to educate and inform the attendees on this exciting yet complex new method of working. Ms Rose commented “This relatively new application of franchising practices is a very sophisticated way of getting goods to market for manufacturers and one, if got wrong, can have dire consequences for franchises”.
As well as Ms Rose and Mr Pratt, Other members of the panel were Raffaella Còndina from Còndina & Associati and Andrea Maria Meschia of 3io S.R.L, both of whom are management consultants based in Milan with extensive knowledge of the franchise arena. Ms Rose added, “It is important that manufacturers and suppliers fully understand the impact that multichannel routes have to market from a commercial and legal perspective. That way both parties can fully use this model to its fullest.”
Whilst at the conference, Ms Rose held talks with international lawyers and trade representatives working in the franchising and distribution arena with regards to Brexit. Ms Rose added “We have contacts with more than 60 international franchise brokers in over 100 countries. It is always good to recement our working relationships as it is these which benefit our clients. We spoke at length about the possible impact of Brexit for British distributors”.
Ms Rose’s role at The Franchising Centre is predominantly focused on working with organisations, including major brands, to expand their businesses into global markets, and has seen her work with more than 300 brands internationally, over the last 35 years.
Brian Duckett, Chairman of The Franchising Centre, added “I’m delighted that, once again, The Franchising Centre’s, and particularly Farrah’s, expertise in international franchising has been recongnised by our professional franchising peers”.
Based in York, The Franchising Centre are Europe’s leading franchise consultants.