The Developing Strategies Research Of The SINOPEC Franchising Gas Stations

American Singer Sewing Machine Company set up the franchising system in 1858. With more than 140 years' practicing, the franchising concept has showed its outstanding advantages. The franchising practice is the kind of goods selling or services providing business operating mode that can not be limited by the operators' business ability. It can provide more products and services, create more opportunities for business and employment. Nowadays, there are more than 15 thousand enterprises have been doing their franchising business all over the world. In America, most of the top 200 trade companies have set up the international franchising organizations.Since 1980's .franchising system has suffered germination,developing,and systematization moment , and present increasing,widespread and diversification characteristics. There are 2320 franchising systems and 160000 franchising companies in China by the end of 2005.In 1998, the China petrochemical industry has been reconstructed by the government. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (hereafter referred to as "SINOPEC") and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) have been set up. The oil supply of Chinese oil market is mainly from the two giant oil companies. In the year of 2000, SINOPEC began to try to practice the franchising business in the gas stations, it hope to expand and stabilize its oil market share by practicing the new business mode. Since SINOPEC was lack of franchising experiences, its gas station franchising system didn't develop very well. In recent years, the total number of brand gas stations is increasing, while the number of franchising gas stations is decreasing instead.Following the promises of China's Accession to the WTO, on December 11^th, 2004 .China began to open its oil retail market to the outside world . On December 11^th, 2006, China opened its crude oil and oil-product wholesale market. From those days on, some transnational oil companies began to develop the oil franchising system in China, the domestic oil companies began to face furious competitions from the new intruders.It is the right time for SINOPEC to systematically study the theory of franchising and perfect its franchising system. By right practicing the franchising, it will help SINOPEC to fasten and enlarge its market shares, to develop healthily in the furious competitive oil market.In order to draw the development strategies for the SINOPEC gas station franchising system, the author has done the following studies:First, the author summarize franchising theory aboard, deeply analyze the franchising essential characteristics, review interrelated literature about Chinese franchising gas stations. By doing so, a theory frame for the development of SIOPEC franchising gas stations is dreamed up.Secondly, the author use the SWOT method to analyze the SINOPEC 's franchising gas station's outer environment's opportunity &threaten, and its inner environment's advantage& inferior position. The SINOPEC franchising gas stations are facing the following advantaged situation: the increasing development of domestic and overseas macro-economic, the monopoly of oil resources, the continuous demand for oil product and the steadily matured oil market. The disadvantages are as the followings : the CNPC,CNOOC etc. domestic oil companies and Shell,BP,Exxon etc. overseas oil companies are becoming the SINOPEC's competitors. Especially the overseas oil companies are the greatest threaten to SINOPEC. Although SINOPEC franchising gas station has three advantages in the aspects of abundant oil resources, big scale, widespread region network, but its product quality has no difference to other oil companies, its franchising supervise cost is more higher, and its product brand is not very famous. On the other side, SINOPEC franchising gas station's franchising management system still need to be improved. The author takes the Exxon and Chevron oil companies for example to analyze the successful experience in franchising gas stations. By doing so, the author summarize the new feature and new trend of the franchising development in overseas. These study provide a strong truth basis for SINOPEC franchising gas stations.In the end, according to the conclusion of SWOT analysis and the study of franchising system's essential characteristics, the author offers some relevant suggestive strategies for the SINOPEC gas station franchising system as the followings: regard the franchising system as a knowledge product and promote it, follow the double-win model to exploit the long-term cooperation and begin to do effort to set up the international franchising system to explore the world market etc.