Women and Franchising

I write a monthly column for Women Unlimited on the franchising industry. Below is an excerpt from the first article.

The Future is Bright for Women in Franchising

by Ursula Barzey, Women Unlimited, 6 December 08

As more women consider entrepreneurship to take great control over their destiny, not all will start a business from scratch. More and more women are investing and running a franchise business. The reason for this is that franchising has become so broad-based that almost every conceivable business can be franchised. This has given women more opportunity to pick a business that they can not only be passionate about, but one that allows them to achieve greater work/life balance.

Franchising is simply a network of interdependent business relationships that allow a number of people to share a brand, a successful method of doing business, a proven marketing and distribution system, buying power and most importantly to enjoy lower risk and higher profits (and resale values).

The key players in this relationship include the franchisor and the franchisee. The franchisor's role is to increase awareness of the brand, create processes, systems, structures, products, marketing campaigns, training and support to help the franchisees increase market share. The franchisee's role is to follow the proven operating system providing excellent service to their target customers in their respective local territory that is consistent with the original intent of the franchisor. Overall, the franchise relationship works best when there is mutual respect between franchisors and franchisees.

To read the full article, go here.