A team of six students are now £400 better off thanks to an award-winning report compiled as part of their studies at Lancaster University.

Chloe Pang, Grace Rowland and Antonio Valente are amongst the 2019 recipients of The Bardon Group Prize which is awarded to undergraduates studying the ENSI311 Franchising module at Lancaster University Management School.

The prize has been sponsored by The Bardon Group for over 23 years and the winners get to share a cash prize of £400 and receive an award plaque.

The winning report focused on how a franchise chain can become one of the largest organisations in its industry sector over a period of five years.

Dr Lola Dada, Senior Lecturer within the department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy at Lancaster University, commented: “This was a truly excellent report. The students detailed how to accomplish this five-year business goal, and offered recommendations on various aspects of the franchise organisation, including organisational structure, operations, recruitment, training, support, financials, territory allocation and franchise agreement. The report incorporated useful external trends and evidence in developing the recommendations.”

On presenting the award, Nigel Toplis, managing director of The Bardon Group of franchise brands  (Recognition Express, Kall Kwik, ComputerXplorers and Techclean) noted: “I have nothing but admiration for the work of this talented group of students, particularly as they have demonstrated the true potential for entrepreneurial growth within the franchising sector in their report.”

Part of the university’s BSc Hons in Management and Entrepreneurship programme, the franchising module gives students the opportunity to look at franchising’s place in the global economy and critically examine the management issues involved in founding and developing a franchise network.

Mr Toplis added: “Lancaster University’s franchising module is one of only few offered by academic institutions in the UK and I would encourage more universities to offer students the study of a business model that is the lifeblood of the UK economy.  Our aim with The Bardon Group Prize is enable more people to understand how the franchise model works and why it is such an excellent way to start a business, and Chloe, Grace and Antonio have certainly demonstrated this in their exemplary report.”

Dr Dada added: “We are very grateful for the unwavering support that we receive from The Bardon Group in various ways, including sponsoring this award, delivering guest speaker lectures, contributing to scholarly discussions on franchising in general and shaping franchise education at Lancaster University Management School in particular”.