Boston, MA-based Home Market Foods (HMF) reached an agreement with Good Times Inc. (GTI) of South Africa, whereby HMF granted rights to GTI to open a retail store in South Africa using its name and operating system. In exchange, GTI paid HMF a percentage of its sales as a royalty. In this way, HMF had an opportunity to establish a presence in countries such as South Africa, where the population or per capita spending was not sufficient to for a major expansion effort. In strategic management, such an agreement is known as _________.

a.licensing

b.a strategic alliance

c.a joint venture

d.franchising