Global Franchising Operations Management: Cases in International and Emerging Markets Operations

1. Introduction

What is a franchise? According to the International Franchise Association, the industry’s lobby group, “A franchise is the agreement or license between two legally independent parties which gives:

• A person or group of people (franchisee) the right to market a product or service using the trademark or trade name of another business (franchisor)

• The franchisee the right to market a product or service using the operating methods of the franchisor

• The franchisee the obligation to pay the franchisor fees for these rights

• The franchisor the obligation to provide rights and support to franchisees¹

Franchising is a commercial relationship between two entities in which one of the entities, the franchisor, grants the other entity, ...