Business PME Business PME is a gate of free information bound for the companies in the United States of America. This website offers thousands of contents as well as a companies directory. The group’s other BtoB websites   --  Professional Networking Monday March 22th 2010 Search
articles
Search
companies

History and Legal aspects



Franchising dates back to at least the 1850s; Isaac Singer, who made improvements to an existing model of a sewing machine, wanted to increase the distribution of his sewing machines. His effort, though unsuccessful in the long run, was among the first franchising efforts in the U.S. A slightly later, yet much more successful, example of franchising was John S. Pemberton's franchising of Coca-Cola. Early American examples include the telegraph system, which was operated by various railroad companies but controlled by Western Union, and exclusive agreements between automobile manufacturers and operators of local dealerships.


 


Modern franchising came to prominence with the rise of franchise-based food service establishments. This trend started as early as 1919 with quick service restaurants such as A&W Root Beer. In 1935, Howard Deering Johnson teamed up with Reginald Sprague to establish the first modern restaurant franchise. The idea was to let independent operators use the same name, food, supplies, logo and even building design in exchange for a fee.


 


The growth in franchises picked up steam in the 1930s when such chains as Howard Johnson's started franchising motels. The 1950s saw a boom of franchise chains in conjunction with the development of America's Interstate Highway System. Fast food restaurants, diners and motel chains exploded. In regards to contemporary franchise chains, McDonalds is arguably the most successful worldwide with more restaurant units than any other franchise network.


Legal aspects

In the United States, franchising falls under the jurisdiction of a number of state and federal laws. Franchisors are required by the Federal Trade Commission to have a Uniform Franchise Offering Circular "UFOC" to disclose potential franchisees about their purchase. This disclosure must take place 10 day prior to solicitation. Each state may require the UFOC to contain specific requirements. This means that many franchisors have a unique UFOC for each state or sometimes are able to include all state specific requirements into one document. FRANDATA estimates that on average, 100 documents are distributed per franchisor per year. This represents 200,000 UFOCs distributed each year in the US alone. FRANDATA also estimates the cost of each UFOC to be near $100.


 


There is no federal registry of franchising or any federal filing requirements for information, rather, states are the primary collectors of data on franchising companies, and enforce laws and regulations regarding their spread.


 


In Russia, under ch. 54 of the Civil Code (passed 1996), franchise agreements are invalid unless written and registered, and franchisors cannot set standards or limits on the prices of the franchisee’s goods. Enforcement of laws and resolution of contractual disputes is a problem: Dunkin' Donuts chose to terminate its contract with Russian franchisees that were selling vodka and meat patties contrary to their contracts, rather than pursue legal remedies.


 


Because litigation is expensive, the majority of franchisors have inserted mandatory arbitration clauses into their agreements with their franchisees. Since 1980, the U.S. Supreme Court has dealt with cases involving direct franchisor/franchisee conflicts at least four times, and three of those cases involved a franchisee who was resisting the franchisor's motion to compel arbitration. Two of the latter cases involved large, well-known restaurant chains (Burger King and Subway); the third involved Southland Corporation, the parent of 7-Eleven.

Copyright 2008 - France BtoB from Wikipédia
• Clone town
• Generalized System of Preferences
• Stages of argumentative dialogue
• Trade bloc
• Auntie Anne's
• Holiday Inn
• Convenience stores in the United States