Franchise

Franchising is the practice of selling the right to use a firm’s successful business model. Essentially, and in terms of distribution, the franchisor is a supplier who allows an operator, or a franchisee, to use the supplier’s trademark and distribute the supplier’s goods. In return, the operator pays the supplier a fee. Thirty three countries, including the United States, and Australia, have laws that explicitly regulate franchising, with the majority of all other countries having laws which have a direct or indirect impact on franchising. There are approximately 909,253 established franchised businesses, generating $880.9 billion of output and accounting for 8.1 percent of all private, non-farm jobs. This amounts to 11 million jobs, and 4.4 percent of all private sector output.