franchising firms need a good media infrastructure to build and maintain brand equity and to spread their promotion costs over more franchised units to create system-wide efficiencies. While prior studies (e.g., Hoffman et al., 2008; Michael, 2003) Unlike other media, the internet permits franchising firms to have a constant presence for customers and potential franchisees. (The media infrastructure of each country consisted of two variables- teledensity or number of phone lines per 100 people and internet access or the number of internet users per 100 people.)