Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc - meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a (transitive) verb. For the franchisor, the franchise is an alternative to building 'chain stores' to distribute goods that avoids the investments and liability of a chain. The franchisor's success depends on the success of the franchisees. The franchisee is said to have a greater incentive than a direct employee because he or she has a direct stake in the business.

Thirty three countries, including the United States, China, and Australia, have laws that explicitly regulate franchising, with the majority of all other countries having laws which have a direct or indirect impact on franchising.

Businesses for which franchising work best have one or several of the following characteristics^{[citation needed]}:

As practiced in retailing, franchising offers franchisees the advantage of starting up business quickly based on a proven trademark, and immediate access to the tooling and infrastructure, as opposed to having to develop them.

Sir Harold Matthew Evans (born 28 June 1928) is a British-born journalist and writer who was editor of The Sunday Times from 1967 to 1981. He has written various books on history and journalism. Since 2001, Evans has served as editor-at-large of The Week Magazine and since 2005, he has been a contributor to The Guardian and BBC Radio 4.

On 13 June 2011 Sir Harold Evans was appointed editor-at-large of the Reuters news agency.

Evans was born to Welsh parents in Newton Heath, Manchester, where he attended Brookdale High School Newton Heath with the future Alfred, Lord Morris of Manchester, who nicknamed him "Poshie" because he was the only boy in the school whose father - a railway driver - owned an automobile.

Evans began his career as a reporter for a weekly newspaper in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire at 16 years old. After completing his national service in the Royal Air Force, he entered Durham University where he graduated with honours in politics and economics and subsequently earned a Master of Arts degree for a thesis on foreign policy. He became an assistant editor of the Manchester Evening News and won a Harkness Fellowship in 1956-57 for travel and study in the United States. He began to gain a reputation on his return from the U.S. when he was appointed editor of the regional daily The Northern Echo, where one of his campaigns resulted in a national programme for the detection of cervical cancer.