UK: Letting others mind your business - FRANCHISING.

Jim Forward and Christina Fulop explore the complexities of franchising with the help of companies well-placed to observe its merits.

There are two divergent tendencies in business management. One pulls towards centralisation and control, the other heaves away steadily in the direction of decentralisation.The latter lays stress on motivation, enterprise and initiative. It favours empowerment. At first glance franchising belongs firmly in the latter category. However, the control aspects can never be ignored, and the looser the form of organisation - as in a franchise network - the more important these become. A uniform standard of service and a consistent public image are central to the whole concept of franchising and must be maintained at all costs, right across the network.