Franchising

Business franchising has a long history of successful business companies expanding their businesses through franchises. The earliest of franchising ventures take us as long ago as the 1850s when Isaac Singer expanded his line of sewing machines. Some of the veterans of business franchises that need mention include Coca Cola which started franchising at a time when no one else was doing it. The modern day franchising of food chains started in the USA with a company called A&W Root Beer, which started the trend of quick serving food stores, in the 1930s. Franchising includes business systems that involve a "franchisor" who sells a certain business rights to the "franchisee" who purchases these rights in order to conduct the business that may include original terms of the franchisor.

Franchising helps a business to achieve lateral growth, which means the increased sales of its products through these various franchise outlets. The advantages of business franchising are many, including a quick launch pad to aspiring entrepreneurs, and growth of the parent company. Relatively less training and skill levels are required for the franchisee in order to operate the business franchise, therefore, the parent company ends up spending less time and money behind a single franchise outlet. Franchising leads to the expansion of the mother company, and this is probably the biggest payoff to the same.

On the downside of franchising, there are concerns for the parent company regarding the control and profit making of a single franchise unit. Epistemological origin of the word "franchise" includes the French root words of "honesty", but it is difficult for the franchisor to take this for granted. Individual franchising units may lead to problems of pricing and profitability concerns, as the rights allotted to the franchisee cannot always be regulated by the franchisor. Adding to the equation of the franchisor and the franchisee are other issues of control, use of raw materials, shipping of materials and other regional problems that crop up with the individual franchise unit. Legal terms are binding to the franchisee, and the violation of this result in the poor working of the franchise system, which leads to the loss in money.

The legal aspects of business franchising are significant to the proper functioning of the franchise. The legalities of franchising include involving the franchisee and the franchisor in trust based cooperation, and if this is tampered with, there is a risk of hampering the business franchise. Several countries have individual franchise regulations and rules which should be followed by all the legal business franchising units in the country. Recognized franchising units can only allowed to function if they practice the norms that are laid out by the country. This is applicable to countries like India, and China, where the governmental regulations are vital for the franchising company. There are some countries which do not have any such specific franchising laws, which include countries like the United Kingdom.

The world of business franchising has a lot to do with mutual cooperation between the franchisor and the franchisee, and this ensures profit for both.