Our aim with this Guide is to walk you through the steps of using franchising to take your business international. We have tried to suggest strategies and provide guidance from the first decision to go international through the phase when you set your business strategy for the country of your choice. We aim to give general guidance that can be used regardless of where you live and work and regardless of the target market where you want to establish your international business. The risk with general guidance is that it cannot be all-embracing. You always have to find local guidance and advice for the specific target market you have chosen. However, we have included some country-specific information in some annexes and we have also provided international franchise web resources in one annex. We do suggest strongly that you contact local counsel with specific knowledge in franchising and related matters wherever you decide to establish your business.

As this Guide has been written by legal practitioners and academics, we have focused on the legal matters. The bulk of the Guide is devoted to the legal planning and the precautions you should take to avoid mistakes in the target market. In Chapter 4, we try to make it possible for you to plan your entry in a practical manner and make a legal assessment before you start anything costly. Once the assessment shows that your business will work in the target market without big obstacles, you can start investing in trademark registration, hiring people, getting visas, finding premises, etc. At this stage you will have to decide what path to take, whether that is Master Franchising or Area Development or some other approach. The structure you choose often may depend on the Candidate you find in the target market. If the right Candidate has enough financial resources, you might want to sign an Area Development Agreement. With a less financially strong Candidate, Master Franchising might be the right way. The Candidate or you might also want to try your System in the target market by starting a Direct Franchise as a pilot operation. In each of these scenarios you will have to prepare documents and agreements, and comply with local regulations. We have included check-lists to enable you to think about many of the important matters that need to be covered in these relationships. As the legal systems are different in the world and as the legislation is different from country to country and even from state to state within a country, we have avoided the regime of model contracts or even model clauses. Our advice is to use our check-lists to have a good discussion with your Candidate and then take the result of your discussions to local counsel who can help you prepare the relevant agreements for the target market.