Most people are familiar with franchising. For the benefit of those who are not, according to franchising is the system of doing business wherein a franchisor licenses trademarks of a product and tested methods of doing business to a franchisee to receive payment like a percentage from gross per sales or gross profits as well as the annual fees agreed upon, as compensation for the trade secrets shared as part of the franchising agreement. Sometimes legal contracts may vary as to the terms of franchise and may not fit the definition above. Sometimes, the methods on how to do the business may not be part of the franchise or other benefits that other franchising companies give may not be available to others.

The most common franchising companies known to the public would be chain of food stores like McDonald’s which nowadays offer some franchising strategies to reach a wider consumer market. McDonald’s has become a household name since it was able to reach a wider consumer market that is not only limited to the United States and the Americas but to the rest of the world. The success behind McDonald’s becoming a household name and the one of the most known trademarks around the world is due to the system of franchising. Aside from the buildings that McDonald’s rent to the franchisee, it also has a stake on the sales of the franchise and the cost of the supplies charged to the franchisee. To help out in the quality of products and services offered in each food chain, McDonald’s sends a member from the franchisee to their Hamburger University in Oak Brook, Illinois. This is one support benefit that the franchisee would get once they franchise a restaurant for McDonald’s.

Like any business, there are advantages and disadvantages that franchising offer to anyone who wish to venture into it.

Advantages

Popular labels are widely known and are likely to sell. Popular trademarks like McDonald’s are likely to sell than a new restaurant that has not reached a market such as McDonald’s. It is selling a well known product to a consumer market which knows the product being sold.

No need to develop a new product that has not been well researched. Venturing into franchising would allow the franchisee to have access to information that the franchisor have about an existing product and put up a business in a shorter period of time.

Trainings and seminars would be provided to the franchisee about the product. It would be easier to operate and manage the business since there are available trainings and other support methods for the franchisee.

Disadvantages

High standards held by the franchisor raise costs of maintenance in the franchise. Since the standards of the franchisor would definitely be high, sometimes the cost of maintaining a franchise can escalate. Unless the materials used would be second rate and low in cost.

Development of new products might still need to be passed for approval to the franchisor. If the franchisee would like to add a product which they think would be saleable in their market range, the new product has to be approved first by the franchisor and this may take time and it would likely be rejected if it does not meet standards of the trademark.

Profit is limited since the franchisor has stake, most of the time, on the profits of the franchise. Not only does the franchisee have little control of the franchise due to many stakes that the franchisor has on the franchise, the profit of the franchise would also be split between the two. Therefore, there is a limit to how much the franchise would earn.

Even if there are several disadvantages in franchising, still there are advantages. If you think you could handle this kind of business, all I can say is, business is gambling. In any industry there are players and you might be lucky that you would be on top once and sometimes at the bottom. Get to know the game play and start playing to win the game.