Franchise is defined by Wikipedia as a right or privilege and typically in business refers to Franchising which is a business method involving licensing of trademarks and following methods of doing business.
These business franchise methods may involve:
- Chain Stores
- Exclusive Rights
- Media Franchise
Chain Store Franchises
These business operations are typically retail outlets that share a common brand or branding but have a central management structure that is responsible for marketing, advertising, training and oversees growth of the business.
Exclusive Rights Franchises
These business operations are typically used when selling branded merchandise or operating a franchise model outside of the existing markets where the central management structure may not have enough resources or presence.
Media Franchises
These business operations are typically geographic based such as APAC, EMEA or North America but can also be franchised out via a single character (Spiderman) or story rights (Lord of the Rings) and rights are often defined by media type such as film, book or video games.
Sports Franchises
The term franchise can also be extended to sports where it is the term for a team in a professional sports league but can also cover League franchises where a local or regional franchise operates under a particular amateur sporting league in sporting activities. These activities may include: football, soccer, pool, darts, baseball…
Australian Franchise Regulations
Within Australia a franchise operation is regulated by the Franchising Code of Conduct made under the Trade Practices Act 1974. Under the Franchising code of conduct franchisors must produce a disclosure document which is to be provided to any prospective franchisee at least 14 days prior to franchise agreement is entered into. The Franchising Code of Conduct also regulates the content of franchise agreements including marketing funds, termination and resolution of disputes and a cooling-off period.