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TCN's Ross Ford

Nationals are going toward affiliation, saying consistency and control are not the issues they thought they were.

By John Salustri | Updated on March 08, 2002

On March 3, GlobeSt.com released the results of its latest Quick Survey (click on: Did Networks Finally Beat the Nationals? ). The survey revealed an almost even split between firms that embrace national ownership and those that say affiliation is the way to go. We thought it would be interesting to get a critique of the data from someone in the trenches, and we turned to H. Ross Ford III , president of TCN Worldwide in Plano, TX. TCN, while not the biggest alliance in the field, has some 56 independent member firms (1,200 brokers) globally and, according to Ford, the membership rolls are growing annually–at a current rate above 10%. His bias in favor of affiliations–consortiums as he calls them–is obvious and understandable. But his insights are thought-provoking. Here’s how he interprets our survey data:

GlobeSt.com: Results of the Quick Survey show an almost even split among the factions, with 51.9% stating that the trend among nationals to go with alliances is just an economic move in downtimes. What do you think?

Ford: That 50/50 split is a statement about the evolution of our business as much as it is a statement about whether the affiliation trend will last. You’re going to see a further segmentation of firms based on this issue. You’re also going to see more firms become hybrids, using a mix of owned and affiliated branch offices.

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