The distribution channel structuring and management represents to firms an important source of competitive advantage. Measure with its visibility, franchising has captured the attention of researchers from a wide variety of theoretical backgrounds, interested in deepening the understanding of its economic and strategic implications. This research aims at providing further comprehension about the factors that lead to the franchising adoption and development as well as the relationship between its level of utilization and companies´ performance. Based on literature review, a structural model was developed using factors nourished by the resource scarcity, transaction costs and agency theories. This problem-modeling approach allowed the testing of hypothesized relationships and the measuring of factors the contributions to the explanation of franchising and the performance of companies. The empirical investigation was developed using public information regarding 88 fast food chains operating in Brazil. Overall, the findings offered support for several theoretical propositions concerning the effects of each selected factors over the use if franchising level. Furthermore, the results revealed a combined impact of the selected factors and the network structure on franchisors´ performance. The examination of the company´s experience influence allows differentiating the relative importance of some structural relationships among young and mature franchisors. Finally, the academic and managerial implications of the conclusions were discussed and suggestions for future studies were provided.