As China endows more favorable rights to overseas investors, more and more franchised proprietors from the Republic of Korea (ROK) hope to open businesses in China, said an official with the ROK Franchised Business Association.

Cho Dong Min, deputy director of the ROK-based association, told a recent Sino-ROK franchised business conference held in Shanghai that the implementation of the regulation on franchised operation in China starting on February 1st will bring more opportunities for those overseas investors who are interested in franchised businesses in China.

The new regulation canceled all limits on overseas investors' market access. All investors, both from China and overseas, will share the same operation conditions, rights and obligations, information and advertizing opportunities in their application for the franchised operation in China.

Cho said most ROK investors favor joining hands with Chinese partners when running business in China, and many noted local enterprises in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen have been partners with those ROK investors.

Cho also hopes the cooperation between ROK and Chinese enterprises will help more Chinese products enter the ROK market.

Franchised businesses appeared in China as early as the 1990s but have become popular only in recent years.

A Professor surnamed Wu from a Shanghai-based institute on chain-store operation said there are more than 1,900 franchises in China, and the number is increasing annually by 49 percent.

According to Wu, by the end of 2004, the number of franchised stores in Shanghai had topped 4,000, about 35 percent of the city's total chain stores.

Source: Xinhua