Integrated network
A development model in which a brand opens and operates its own outlets — company-owned stores — rather than using independent franchisees. Unlike franchising, it allows total control but requires significant capital and a heavy centralised organisation.
In practice
Some brands combine company-owned and franchise models: they retain the most strategic units — flagships, test sites — in-house and develop via franchise in secondary zones or internationally. This hybrid allows the brand to test innovations in-house before rolling them out across the franchise network. A franchisor that no longer operates any company-owned unit gradually loses direct contact with the operational reality of its own concept.