Job Description
Reporting to the Global Head of Expansion, the role of Franchise Manager will be responsible for operationalizing the first ever franchise partnership in China, creating immense value for the business globally. This newly created role takes the organisation into uncharted territory and has the opportunity (and expectation) to heavily influence both the franchising strategy as well as ongoing operations.
Role Scope
The geographic scope of this role is Asia, starting with Mainland China. The role is omnichannel in nature and spans retail, wholesale and online. The role remit includes full P&L oversight across agreed development plan with franchise partner.
Key Deliverables / Success Metrics
- Lead annual business plan process with franchise partner and deliver subsequently agreed mutual commercial targets
- Drive adherence to 5 year and annual development plan agreed between company and partner
- Effective relationship building and day to day operational management with teams at both for the company and franchise partner to achieve overall business objectives.
- Drive brand awareness & consideration targets in line with commercial delivery.
Skillsets & Capabilities
The Franchise Manager is responsible for building the brand and business in collaboration with a Chinese franchise partner. This leads to some role specific skills and capabilities.
- Has knowledge of and familiarity with doing business in China – especially retail operations. This breadth of knowledge ideally extends across the value chain including but not limited to product buying, importation/customs clearance, talent recruitment, marketing, all the way through to creating value on the shop floor via effective selling mechanisms.
- Has general management capabilities including strategic annual business planning through to facilitating day to day operations; equally comfortable discussing supply chain forecasts or channel appropriate campaigns for building the brand in China or tactical activities to drive omnichannel trading results.
- Acts as a cultural ambassador for the company and the franchise partner. Effectively imbues partner operations with the company’s mission and manifesto, ensuring that all consumer facing activities are carried out with the same ethos and to the same high standards as company owned operations.
- Embeds themselves in and fully understands company operations cross-functionally so as to facilitate partner interfaces and also to best replicate consumer facing practices.
- Has preferably led franchise operations from a brand principal capacity. Alternately, having led operations as a franchisor is also of value.
- Is a Chinese language and cultural native. The role requires constant interfacing with a mainly Mandarin speaking partner and to build an effective working relationship, fluent Mandarin is key.
The Franchise Manager is a senior role in the organization and the critical interface for a part of the business that, when well-managed, can very quickly grow to be the largest business unit. As such, this role requires:
- Leadership skills. The franchise manager will work with every function across the organization and drive business delivery through non-reporting relationships. This requires the ability to lead without the crutch of hierarchical structures.
- Accountability. To build an effective, high-performance culture, the franchise manager will need to hold themselves, their counterparts as well as their franchise partners to the highest level of accountability to ensure commitments are delivered upon.
- Effective Communication. The franchise manager is responsible for transcending a literal cultural and language barrier. When done well, with clear communication and understanding, the end result can be better business processes (and business results) for both the company as well as the partner organization. This requires constant, effective communication between the two businesses, ensuring that any points of friction are quickly acknowledged and addressed.
The role reports into the Global Head of Expansion and will be ideally, this role will be based in Melbourne, Australia with frequent trips to China. Consideration will be given to candidates in other locations.
For a confidential discussion, please contact Jennifer Galvin-Rowley on
+61 410 477 235 or email jen@galvinrowley.com.au