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Licensing continues to be a significant strategy for both furniture manufacturers and retailers. Furniture Today reported earlier this month that more than a dozen licensed groups were showcased at market. 

In a previous post we reviewed general licensing principles using the first half of the Ashley licensing agreement between Ashley and Jennifer Convertibles as a model (for further background, please read the previous post). Since than Jennifer Convertibles announced that it was opening a second Ashley store under the agreement, so I guess the licensing model is working for them.

I received many comments and questions regarding this topic from our loyal readers, so let’s pick up where we left off and finish reviewing the second half of the Ashley ag...Read More

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The previous blog post discussed the laws governing overtime and the importance of not running afoul of such laws. (read previous post) This post reviews some missteps and misconceptions regarding overtime.  Make sure you don’t trip up on these issues. 

 

1.         Background:   Overtime can be an emotionally charged issue for employees who resent being overworked and underpaid, or have come to count on overtime as a means of supplementing their income and making ends meet. Employers push their employees because they have production and sales goals that must be met or risk having their o...Read More

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1.         Introduction: The “clash of civilizations” is a hot and timely topic of debate. Dear readers, we’re not concerned with global politics here, we’re talking about the fierce wars being waged between the plaintiffs bar and the business community regarding employee overtime. The fighting is ferocious and the stakes are high. For example, lawsuits claiming that employers have failed to pay mandated overtime have more than doubled from 2001 to 2006, and employers are now paying over $1 Billion a year to settle such claims, the Wall Street Journal reports. We’ll review the overtime mine...Read More

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It’s not surprising that Ashley has one of the most successful programs for opening single-brand stores by granting licenses to retailers to sell Ashley products exclusively. 

Recently Ashley and a subsidiary of Jennifer Convertibles, a top 100 Furniture Today retailer, entered into an Agreement granting the licensee the right to sell only Ashley products (Jennifer Convertibles filed the Agreement with the SEC as required by law and it’s available to the public). We’ll be reviewing the Agreement to peek at Ashley’s licensing program (honestly who can resist) and glean general lessons for both licensors and licensees thinking of entering into collaborations.

An ideal win-win licensing agreement is attain...Read More