How To Decide Where to Expand Your International Franchise
Opening an international franchise is attractive to franchisors but going global is also risky. While there are many qualified consultants who would be excellent resources for assisting you in creating an international business plan and strategy, there are also a few online websites that are useful to review to get a baseline of what the international marketplace looks like for your franchise expansion plans.
I would like to highlight three websites that may be helpful in the early stages of your research when deciding where to open your international franchise.
GlobalVue
EGS’s GlobalVue provides quarterly ratings of the top 50 countries in over 10 business parameters to help you decide where to focus your international expansion plans. The parameters they use to rank the countries include projected GDP growth, legal concerns for international brands, ease of business entry, corruption index, political situation and projected coronavirus recovery.
The link to the GlobalVue report is: https://edwardsglobal.com/index.php/globalvue/
The report is provided as a high-level view of what they are researching. ESG is also available for more in depth reporting or consultation needs.
TradingEconomics.com
This website strictly looks at the financial side. When you are planning an expansion into a new market, it is essential to understand the economic situation of the market. This report covers factors like GDP growth rate, inflation rate, unemployment rate, consumer confidence, corporate tax rate and personal income tax rate.
Trading Economics will provide the current financial picture for the market and projections for the near future. Their report can be found here: https://tradingeconomics.com/united-arab-emirates/forecast
International Franchise Attractiveness Index
The Rosenberg International Franchise Center, within the University of New Hampshire, offers another variation of ranking countries with their International Franchise Attractiveness Index.
The Rosenberg report is only published once each year, but it covers some areas that are unique from the other reports I mentioned. Such as a cultural and geographic distance rating. This report also covers 131 countries for a much broader coverage.
The link to the report is: https://www.unh.edu/rosenbergcenter/international-franchise-attractiveness-index%E2%84%A2
Summary
These country reports can be helpful in early international expansion research but utilizing actual franchise industry consultants with first-hand experience in the markets is highly recommended as you develop your strategy. They will be able to guide you around the potential pitfalls and suggest the best practices to succeed in the new market for business and cultural considerations.
