Franchising & Licensing, 4th Edition

CHAPTER 2The Foundation of Franchising

Over the last seven decades, franchising has emerged as a leading IP-leveraging strategy for a variety of product and service companies at different stages of development. Recent International Franchise Association (IFA) Educational Foundation statistics demonstrate that retail sales from franchised outlets comprise over 50 percent of all retail sales in the United States, with total economic output (including gross sales) estimated at over $2.3 trillion and employing over 21 million people at over 900,000 establishments in 2008. In an era when unemployment is running in excess of 10 percent and underemployment is nearly 20 percent, franchised businesses provided jobs to 21 million Americans, nearly one ...