First of all, what is franchising (franchising referred to in the following is commercial franchising), and it is very important to clarify this concept.
Franchising refers to a business model.
China's "Regulations on the Administration of Commercial Franchise" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") defines franchising in Article 3 of Chapter 1:
Commercial franchising (hereinafter referred to as franchising) as mentioned in these Regulations refers to the business activities of an enterprise (hereinafter referred to as franchisor) that owns registered trademarks, enterprise logos, patents, proprietary technologies and other business resources, licenses its business resources to other operators (hereinafter referred to as franchisees) in the form of contracts, and the franchisees conduct business under a unified business model in accordance with the contents of the contracts and pay franchise fees to the franchisees.
The question "Do you need to be qualified to join?" The main question can also be answered from China's "Regulations".
As can be seen from the above terms, in China, the franchisor must be an enterprise. However, the regulations do not define the franchisee (franchisee), and the state leaves the qualification judgment of the franchisee to the franchisee, who decides the franchisee's qualification by himself.
In addition, Article 7 of the Regulations also puts forward the criteria for franchisers to judge their qualifications.
That is, the franchisor should have a mature business model and have the ability to provide business guidance, technical support and business training for the franchisee. Franchisors engaged in commercial franchising activities shall have at least two direct stores, and the operating time shall be at least 1 year.
The filing mentioned in the above answer needs serious discussion. China does have a filing mechanism for commercial franchise activities, but it cannot be used as a standard to judge franchise qualifications!
By quoting Article 8 of the Regulations, it can be seen that the franchisor shall file with the competent commercial department within 0/5 days from the date when the franchise contract is first concluded, and it is not to inquire whether the filing exists to distinguish whether an enterprise has the franchise qualification. If an enterprise has two directly operated stores, which have been operating for one year or more, and have abundant business resources and mature business model, but it has never signed a franchise contract and never put it on record, and this enterprise starts to recruit franchisees, we also think that this enterprise is qualified for franchise.
The filing system has the following four purposes:
In order to supervise and manage the franchisor's business activities and maintain market order.
In order to facilitate the competent commercial authorities to know and master the relevant information such as the number of franchisers in time, and regulate and supervise franchise activities in a targeted manner.
In order to help potential investors understand the basic situation of franchisers and make appropriate investment decisions.
Conducive to the formation of the whole society's supervision over franchisers.
In other words, as long as you inform the relevant departments after franchising activities, the supervision intensity can be seen ... You know, so this can't be used as a standard to judge the franchisor's qualification, just to let potential investors know the basic situation of the franchisor, and don't make bold investments just because the franchisor's business activities are put on record.
So, what is joining?
In franchising activities, the franchisor's substantive behavior of recruiting franchisees, from the franchisee's point of view, is that franchisees buy franchises, that is, potential franchisees choose appropriate franchise projects and franchise systems for investment negotiations and decide to become formal franchisees.
From the franchisee's point of view, the choice of franchise system is the key to the success or failure of its investment and entrepreneurial activities, and it is also the core content of franchisee's franchise activities.