A strong business system? A stand out brand? Successful marketing? All important, no doubt. But, ask any franchising expert, and “The relationship between franchisor and franchise owners” will come near the top of their list.
Franchising may be a uniquely successful way of spreading a business format, but at the core of any franchise is a relationship, or a series of relationships; between the franchisor and each individual franchise owner, between the franchise owners, and between the franchisor and the network as a whole.
Ideally, those relationships will be healthy. But, it would be naïve to assume that there won’t be tensions, fallings out, even full blown disputes. Sometimes there may be bitter legal wrangles over allegations of broken promises, misrepresentations and so on. Fortunately, these are relatively few and far between. But even in the best run franchises there will be tensions between franchisor and franchise owners. And, of course, there will be fallings out between franchise owners too.
Faced with a dispute, the franchisor faces a dilemma… read on.
