The introduction of the franchising concept by the fast food franchising pioneers was a necessary step in the development of franchising in China but not the only step. The concept of franchising was unknown to the law and, without official recognition or a regulatory framework, franchising...

Within a decade of the introduction of Deng Xiaoping 's 'open door• reforms which signaled the end of China's international isolation under Mao Zedong, franchising was introduced to China, in the late I980s, by the US franchising fast food pioneers KFC and McDonald's. However, it was the...