If you’ve considered starting your own business, you’ve probably heard of franchising. For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, franchising is where a business allows other individuals to set up in business under the same organizational banner, using the same trademarks to sell the same product. Franchising is usually regulated by locality, with maybe one franchise to a town, or region. A great example of a company that franchise is McDonalds, which, for a money consideration, allows anyone to set up a McDonalds Restaurant and sell Big Macs and Fries under the McDonalds name.
So why do companies franchise? For a company to franchise is for it to grow artificially, increasing the number of outlets from which it sells to the consumer. It’s a good idea for businesses, because they get to expand their organization cheaply and rapidly, even making money in the process. However, franchising can be problematic for companies, and many franchises (which are usually tried and tested businesses) end up going bust or destroying the brand because they become too big to handle. Additionally, it can sometimes be hard to keep an eye on all the franchises which can also cause problems.