Franchising's latest makeover
Few people tend to wonder how the meaning of words can change or be lost over time.
It would be more apparent to us if our life spans were measured in hundreds of years rather than decades. For me, it is proof
of one thing: evolution
is not always a force for good.
Let me give you an example.
Six hundred years ago, Geoffrey Chaucer, the English poet, equated the meaning of “franchise” with freedom. Two hundred years ago, Edmund Burke, the political philosopher, said “franchise” had to do with privileges.
Ask anyone today what a “franchise” refers to and you will likely get the following answer: fast food.
That the word has become a simple business term has not been lost on China's Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom). At the end of 2003, China had about 1,900 franchise systems in more than 50 sectors, with about 82,000 outlets and more than 2m employees, according to the ministry. China would like to see a further expansion which might be easier said than done.
Modern franchises are mostly about leveraging intellectual property to deliver more products and services to a wider range of customers.
From China's point of view, franchising is a business model that can help boost employment and facilitate the launch of small and medium-sized companies. But it has not always worked according to plan. Poor regulation has led to problems such as franchising scams, in which the franchisee is essentially forced to purchase products and services from the franchisor under a fictitious arrangement.
Other companies fraudulently claimed to have generated high investment returns from franchising in an attempt to lure investors into a business relationship. These were often no more than pyramid schemes.
To counter these problems, the ministry has issued rules known as the Administrative Measures on Commercial Franchising. Under these rules, which came into effect on February 1, franchises have to demonstrate they are what they say they are.
The rules offer help, including a definition of franchising, a list of preconditions for potential franchising partners, a description of how partners may conduct their business, a list of contractual protections as well as the nature and degree of disclosure of required information.
The ministry clearly not content to leave the fine print to the parties to sort out has decreed that the franchise agreement must cover a wide range of issues, from use of intellectual property to the details of promotional campaigns.
China's rules are in sharp contrast with those in other countries, which tend to focus almost exclusively on pre-sale disclosure requirements, leaving the parties free to set the remaining bounds on their relationship.
While the rules will add some weight to franchising, a lighter touch in some areas might have better served China's version of the business model.
The writer is a consultant with Clifford Chance
特许经营的“中国特色”
很少有人会怀疑一点：即随着时间的推移，文字的涵义会发生变化甚至消失。
如果我们的寿命长达几百年而不是几十年的话，我们会更容易注意到这一现象。对我来说，这证明了一件事情，即发展并不总是朝好的方向发展。
我来举个例子。600年前，英国诗人杰弗里?乔叟(Geoffrey Chaucer)将“franchise”的字意等同于自由。200年前，政治哲学家埃德蒙?伯克（Edmund Burke）说，“franchise”与特权有关。
今天，你问任何一个人“franchise”指的是什么，你很可能会得到以下这个答案：快餐。
如今，这个词已成为一个简单的商业术语，而中国商务部也用上了。来自商务部的数据显示，2003年末，中国约有遍布50个领域的1900个特许经营系统，以及约8.2万个加盟店和200多万名员工。中国希望看到特许经营进一步发展，但这说起来容易做起来难。
现代特许经营大多是利用知识产权向更广泛的客户提供更多的产品和服务。
从中国的观点来看，特许经营是一种商业模式，能有助于提高就业率，并使建立中、小型公司变得更加容易。但是，它并不总是按照计划进行。不健全的法规产生了许多问题，例如特许经营欺诈行为。经营者实际上是根据一份虚假的合同，被迫从特许人那里购买产品和服务。
其它公司谎称从特许经营中获得了高额的投资收益，企图以此诱骗投资者加入。这通常只是金字塔式的骗局。
为解决这些问题，中国商务部颁布了《商业特许经营办法》（以下简称《办法》，自2005年2月1日起施行。《办法》规定，特许经营必须证明他们信息披露的真实性。
《办法》将对规范特许经营有所帮助，其中包括对特许经营进行定义，罗列潜在特许经营合伙人的前提条件，对合伙人应如何经营业务进行描述，列举合同保护和披露规定信息的性质和程度。
中国商务部显然不想让特许经营双方来处理一些含糊费解的条款。在《办法》中规定，特许经营合同必须涵盖从知识产权使用到促销活动细节等各种问题。
中国法规往往将全部的注意力放在售前信息披露上，而接下来的约束将由双方自己商定。这与其它国家的法规形成鲜明对比。
虽然《商业特许经营办法》将对特许经营产生一定影响，但在一些领域采取相对宽松的政策可能更符合中国的商业模式。
本文作者系英国高伟绅律师行（Clifford Chance）顾问
