Franchising As Means Of International Retailing Expansion

Franchising is a method of doing business, which has enjoyed tremendous growth over the last 50 years. Last century, the famous futurist, Nesbit ever forecasted that "franchising will be the leading commerce model in next century". Franchising is traditionally a popular way of conducting business for retailers in domestic market. Nowadays, with the internationalization of retailing, more international retailers would like to adopt franchising as their foreign market expansion means, at least as part of a portfolio of entry strategies. McDonald's, for example, is the most famous international retailing franchisor in the world, with more than 30,000 restaurants in 119 countries serving 47 million customers each day. Comparably, many Chinese domestic retailers also developed fast with franchising as operation mode, like quanjude roast duck, malan hand-pulled noodles, etc., and it is also a good option for them to adopt franchising in their later foreign market expansion.This thesis consists of five parts. Chapter 1 comes with the basic knowledge of retailing, of its concept, characteristics and economic significance. Its purpose is to give a brief introduction of retailing. Chapter 2 is about international retailing, which introduces characteristics, driving forces, international environment and foreign market expansion means of it. In this chapter franchising is pointed out as an effective means of international retailing expansion. Chapter 3 focuses on franchising mainly, about its development, definition and forms, theories, and benefits to international retailers, etc., and tries to prove why international retailers would like to adopt franchising as their foreign market entry strategy. The two successful international retailing franchisors - Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald's are also taken as examples in Chapter 4, in which their successful franchising experiences are analyzed, so as to offer some implications for Chinese retailers. The last chapter presents some suggestions for Chinese retailers. After analyzing the macro-environment in foreign markets, Chinese retailers should also pay much...