franchise hurt or help?

I met with a potential client today, whose business is part of a national franchise. We discussed some of his specific web needs, and he expressed some frustration with their current web provider, which of course is dictated by the head franchise corporate office.

Although I do understand the benefit of large-scale brand recognition, proven track-record research and development, and overall support and training that a franchise business model can offer, I also believe that they can be somewhat limiting. For certain businesses that have been around for a long time, antiquated business models are still in place, and getting the head office to implement certain changes (which may in turn impact the budgets of all of their chains) can be like pulling teeth.

Traditional pre-internet franchises in particular seem to suffer from this problem. While a specific branch location may want to optimize their marketing per modern day standards, they be fighting an uphill battle with the "head office" to get them to allow such a change. It's all very fascinating - starting a franchise is supposed to eliminate some of the risk involved in starting a new business, but positioning yourself in "safe" business models means less control, not unlike our current American approach to privacy and the Patriot Act.