Excellent additional thoughts and information, Islay and others. Thanks!
Islay, you suggest having G8 as a brand (#3)? Many companies avoid referring to the corporate parent because it is, well, too corporate. The brand websites mention G8 has the parent firm, but not emphasized.
G8 has about two dozen brands -- Kinder Haven, FirstGrammar, Pelican, Community Kids, etc -- each with a philosophy and brand image. I wouldn't be surprised if some brands eventually merge. But some brands have differences in services such as pre-school, kindergarten, long day vs short day vs temporary care, etc. G8 has a dedicated marketing manager, whose description starts with branding. It's important for parents, so makes sense.
Regarding G8's decentralized budgets (#4). G8's accounting seems to imply that centers of brand groups have profit/loss obligations, but some centre activities are managed at the corporate level (e.g. some or most marketing), so also has shared services. Decentralizing budgets to individual centers or at least to the brand group is generally good because it focuses staff at that level on both revenue and costs (rather than big parent taking care of cost overruns and declining demand).
Thereabouts, thanks for posting Gaurav's follow-up note. Again, he seems to write conclusions before researching, such as saying that G8 "does nothing" to the centres after acquiring them. Just the opposite, I think. G8 seems to be introducing important practices to maintain and raise childcare quality and branding. A key feature of regional managers is employee development. As a growing business, G8 also has a potentially excellent career track, something not available when employees worked at independent centers. Read the websites of specific brands and you'll find other hints of G8's systematic structures to improve childcare quality. Here are some G8 brand websites.
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