Decentralized acquirer Amitech maintains a central team of "black belts," who are experts in operational excellence. These specialists are deployed to subsidiaries to run "Kaizen events," helping them eliminate waste and improve processes. This model combines the autonomy of decentralization with the benefits of centralized expertise.

The potential scale for a multi-unit franchisee is enormous. The Flynn Group, a family-run franchisee operator, generated over $6.3 billion in revenue, surpassing the total revenue of entire franchisor brands like KFC, Domino's, and Popeyes. This demonstrates that top operators can build empires larger than the parent companies.

The creators of the McDonald's system were content with their single, successful location. Their desire for a peaceful life and avoidance of the "problems" associated with scaling prevented them from capitalizing on their own invention, creating the opportunity for an ambitious operator like Ray Kroc to step in.

A key innovation was shifting from merely collecting a thin sales royalty to controlling the land under each franchise. The company would lease land and sublease it to operators. This created stable, predictable rent income that provided the capital engine for massive growth.

A one-size-fits-all approach stifles innovation in global companies. To build trust and adapt effectively, leaders must empower local teams with decision-making authority. This respects crucial market-specific cultural nuances and consumer behaviors.

Home Depot's decentralized model gives regional presidents significant autonomy but with clear, unspoken boundaries—the "invisible fence." This fosters local ownership and agility while ensuring alignment with core company principles. Crossing the line results in a "zap," maintaining strategic cohesion without micromanagement.

Innovation is often stifled when product design is dictated by existing manufacturing limitations. Indra Nooyi forced a breakthrough with Sun Chips by rejecting the factory's default chip size. She mandated a redesign based on the consumer's experience, forcing manufacturing to adapt rather than allowing its constraints to define the product.

Forcing innovations to "scale" via top-down mandates often fails by robbing local teams of ownership. A better approach is to let good ideas "spread." If a solution is truly valuable, other teams will naturally adopt it. This pull-based model ensures change sticks and evolves.

Franchisees inhibit their own success by focusing on what corporate isn't doing for them. The most successful operators ignore corporate limitations and innovate within the significant portion of the business they directly control, such as local marketing and store operations.