Growing business opts for franchise model

by Catherine Woods - Tuesday, 4th March 2008 -

The Working Knowledge Group has decided to adopt a business franchise model in order to grow its offering.

James Lott co-founded The Working Knowledge Group two years ago. The company sells business management tools to help other groups create, communicate and implement their strategy. Lott says: “The best thing about the tool is that it gets alignment across the management team.

“It’s an incredibly transparent tool. If you truly want to achieve a project or drive a business forward then it literally lets you get all the cards out on the table, agree on what all the important stepping stones are to achieve the goal, and then publish it to stakeholders."

The Working Knowledge Group currently has a staff of 15. Turnover is a shade over £1m and doubling each year. Lott, however, says the intention is not to grow the business directly by much more. “What we’re doing now is licensing management consultancies and business coaches to utilise the tool although we will continue to sell to some clients ourselves," he says.

“We’re not into the idea of being a very large company. We could continue to grow and employ lots of people but we prefer the franchise model. It keeps us small yet nimble.”

Picture source

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