wayne steinberg ppt

Wayne SteinbergLegal Counsel

Who is WSI?

• Started in 1995 and now in its eleventh year of doing business, WSI is the world’s leading provider of Internet Solutions to small and medium sized business the world over.

• Although based in Canada, we have over 1600 franchisees serving their local markets in 87 countries worldwide (50% are in the U.S. and 50% are international)

Who is WSI?

• The WSI brand is currently ranked as the #1 Internet & Technology Services franchise by the prestigious Entrepreneur Magazine annual listings

• WSI also ranks among the top 50 companies listed in the most recent Entrepreneur Magazine’s Annual Franchise 500 survey - #42 in the 2007 rankings

• WSI also holds the singular distinction as the only Canadian company in Entrepreneur Magazine’s list of top ten global franchises offering international opportunities.

What does WSI Mean?

• WSI stands for “We Simplify the Internet”

What do we provide to our Franchisees?

• WSI’s own Lifecycle system, a process which serves as a complete blueprint for franchisees to develop effective Internet marketing solutions for clients

• Extensive training:– Comprehensive 4 week pre-requisite online training

program delivered through our own e-Learning software.

– An intense one week course at our home office training centre in Mississauga, leading to certification as an Internet Marketing Consultant

What do we provide to our Franchisees?

– The Quick Start Program, provides a personal post training business coach during the first 90 days of business

– Weekly coffee break webcasts

– A regular schedule of Ambassador training seminars and other localized field trainings in selected locations worldwide

– Two Excellent and Innovation conferences (one in North America and one in Europe) annually, featuring topical guest speakers and a supplier showcase, which are made available to our entire franchise network to attend

What do we provide to our Franchisees?

– The WSI mentoring program ensures that interested existing franchisees and all new franchisees have the benefit of direct hands-on training from one of a selected group of our more experienced and successful franchisees

– Access to our private e-Marketplace, including production centres that handle all technical details of Web development plus a variety of other approved suppliers that constitute an entire supply chain (search engine optimization, copywriters, lead generation partners, and pay per click experts, etc.) for WSI franchisees to provide an effective Internet solution

– 24 hour 7 days a week business and technical support, available by phone and online

What do we provide to our Franchisees?

– Access to regionalized franchisor-facilitated Internet Consultant groups where franchisees can assist each other with their own individual specialized experience

– A full selection of professionally designed promotional materials translated into a number of key languages

– Our global Internet Consultant Advisory Council

What does the future hold?

Here are some statistics:

• Online ads are expected to generate $19 billion in sales revenue by 2009 (Jupiter Research)

• ● E-commerce transactions are expected to total $329 billion by 2010, which will represent 13% of total U.S. sales (Forrester Research)

• ● Online users are now spending about 14 hours a week, on average – the same amount of time they spend watching TV – surfing the internet. (Jupiter Research)

• ● $26 billion will be spent on online advertising in US by 2010, more than on cable TV & radio advertising (Gartner Group)

• All of this bodes well for continued expansion of the WSI system and of our international franchising in the years ahead!

Thank You!

Ontario Bar Association – 7th Annual Franchise Law Conference

Your Client’s Horizons Have No Borders – Should Yours?

Steve S. Rogers – President & CEO, The Franchise Company

Wayne A. Steinberg- General Counsel, WSI We Simplify the Internet

Frank Zaid – Partner, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP

Structure of Presentation

• Challenges to franchise counsel on expansion of franchise clients beyond Ontario

• Laws of jurisdiction

• Legal inquiries

• Professional responsibility

• Background of WSI

Market Assumptions

• Investigation for new markets

• Legal requirements

• Role of franchisee’s local counsel

Legislative Environment

• Researching relevant issues

• Obtaining appropriate advice

Extra-Provincial Expansion

• Governing laws• Document review• Expectation of lawyers• Limitation of legal advice• Opinions re-enforceability• Determining legal issues in other provinces• Ancillary documents• Extra-provincial registration

Expanding into Quebec

• Language laws

• Civil Code

• Legal advice required

• Challenges in expanding into Quebec

• Role of Ontario lawyers

International Expansion

• Role of Ontario lawyer

• 10 leading issues

• Selection of foreign counsel

• Foreign consultants

• How Ontario lawyers can assist

• experiences

Franchise Counsel

• Dealing with foreign franchisee counsel

Foreign Franchise ClientsExpanding into Canada

• Advice from Canadian counsel

• Main issues

• Intermediaries

• Regulated industries

Thank You

Any Questions?