Performance implications of centrality in franchisee advice networks

Although the literature has provided ample evidence for the decisiveness of the franchisor–franchisee relationship in explaining organizational success or failure, performance effects of franchisee–franchisee relationships remain largely unexplored. Yet a growing body of research indicates that by building interfranchisee relationships, franchisees can form advice networks in the chain. Such networks offer privileged access to resources such as knowledge, information, and best practices that help individual franchisees to become more productive. In this context, we study linkages between a franchisee's centrality in franchisee relationships and various individual performance outcomes, using comprehensive data from franchisees in 3 different chains in the largest European franchise market, France. We find that conditional on the specific governance structure of each chain, the results document a strong impact of centrality in advice networks on franchisee performance. Accordingly, we offer theoretical contributions concerning knowledge‐sharing processes in franchise chains, and managerial implications as regards more effective cooperation management in practice, from the perspective of both a franchisee and a franchisor.     

Decaf or double shot? The strength of franchisor control over HRM in coffee franchises

The franchise relationship presents a unique composition of autonomy and control. Franchisee autonomy is located somewhere between employed managers and independent business owners, while the franchisor regulates core processes such as marketing and product development. While heavy franchisor control over certain functions is customary and in fact integral to the franchise model, the delineation of HRM responsibilities in the franchise relationship is less clear. Using qualitative data from three Australian coffee chains, we examine the role of the corporate HR and the degree to which HRM activities are centralised, and develop a typology of franchisor HRM control. We find substantial variation between cases and demonstrate that it is the franchisor's strategic decision to prioritise brand protection or liability avoidance that ultimately determines whether their control over HRM can be described as ‘decaf’ weak or ‘double shot’ strength.     

To be entrepreneurial,or not to be entrepreneurial? Explaining differences in franchisee entrepreneurial behavior within a franchise system

Although franchising scholars largely acknowledge that franchisees may behave like entrepreneurs, little is known about whether and why franchisees differ in their entrepreneurial behaviors. Franchisees are semi-autonomous entrepreneurs running geographically dispersed units within established organizations. We therefore use corporate entrepreneurship (CE) literature to define and measure franchisee entrepreneurial behavior, and we build on an entrepreneurial motivation framework to develop an integrative set of hypotheses that explain differences in franchisee entrepreneurial behavior. We test these hypotheses using survey data on 119 franchisees within a single Dutch franchise system. Our results show that the extent of franchisee entrepreneurial behavior varies considerably, even within a single franchise system. The differences in franchisees’ entrepreneurial behaviors can be explained by differences in franchisees’ intrinsic goals, relational satisfaction and local competition.     

多店特许文献综述

多店特许近期发展非常迅速,中外研究者识别了区域发展、主特许、区域代理、特许中介、顺序多店特许、合资特许等多店特许方式,从特许人与受许人动机、多店特许优缺点进行了实证研究,使用了代理理论、国际化理论、集体行为与社会选择等理论方法。国内有关研究强调主特许经营"三层两关系",指出法律不能也不应该对经营模式进行保护。这些研究绝大多数将国内与国际分开,存在局限性;且将多店特许与单店特许比较,而实质上多店特许更应该与特许体系分支机构对应。     

Recall of autobiographical memory: A longitudinal analysis of franchisee experts

In this longitudinal study, we investigate whether franchisees in their role as experts exhibit consistent recall of their perceptions of franchise value after a 3-year interval when a strong autobiographical instance association (i.e., the multiunit decision) is created. Paired-sample t tests and correlation analysis are used to examine recall accuracy. While the analysis reveals stability of recall for typical franchisee experts over both the recent and the distant past, the individual level data indicate that the precision of recall deteriorates over time. Implications for future research involving retrospective data are offered.     

Outlet ownership in franchising systems: an agency based approach

Building on prior agency theoretic explanations of the franchisor–franchisee relationship, this paper introduces the franchise system manager in the traditional dyadic channel. This allows us to link the franchisors internal agency problems of providing incentives to managers to their external agency problems of acquiring and extracting rents from franchisees. I find preliminary empirical support for this approach in a structural equations model estimated on a franchise system data set. I then develop and analyze an agency‐theoretic model with agency tradeoffs. An explicit rationale for mixed ownership in franchising emerges from the model, where the share of company owned outlets is endogenously determined as the tradeoff between franchisee rents and managerial compensation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of brand-related and market signals on franchisees’ entrepreneurial decisions: a multi-country panel data analysis

This paper analyses the influence of market and brand-related signals on franchisees’ decisions when choosing a franchise brand with which to open an outlet for the first time. Panel data methodology was used to analyse a sample of 1277 chains operating in Spain, Mexico and Peru between 2004 and 2013. The results show that market signals prevail over brand-related signals. Within brand-related signals, franchisees first seek information relating to the brand’s sector and then seek information relating to the brand’s value. Franchisors should match the content of the signals they send to the market to the true characteristics of the franchise. Franchisors should also endeavour to ensure the country where they operate has general and franchise-specific legislation that fosters business activity by both franchisor and franchisee. The use of institutional quality as a signal in a multi-country study represents a significant contribution to the literature on franchising.

     

Preliminary evidence on the appointment of institutional solutions to franchisor moral hazard—the case of franchisee councils

Besides franchisee opportunistic behavior, franchisor moral hazard is a central concern in franchise chains. Economic literature thus far focused on the sharing of franchisee revenues as an incentive for curbing franchisor malfeasance. In this paper, we ask whether and how the obligations of chains may be enforced through institutional arrangements like franchisee councils. Consistent with expectations, the appointment of a council empirically turned out to be more likely as decision rights—a proxy for the scope of moral hazard—were increasingly allocated to companies' management. We found this relationship to be negatively moderated by the contractual share parameter. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Retail Contracting and Organizational Form: Alternatives to Chain Affiliation in the Motel Industry

Most of the existing empirical literature on franchising investigates the share of company-owned versus franchised establishments within large retail firms. This literature typically has not considered the decision of a business owner to operate an independent business or to become a franchisee. This paper empirically analyzes what determines whether independent ownership or affiliation is observed, using data on the affiliation status of 2,293 motel establishments located throughout the United States. Heterogeneity in the underlying economic environment helps explain affiliation choices at the establishment level. The results also suggest that failure to consider independent establishments may explain the puzzling negative correlation between risk and vertical integration commonly found in the empirical franchising literature .     

Franchising and intellectual capital: A franchisee’s perspective

Various studies have focused on the reasons for franchising. Most studies have concentrated principally on the franchisors’ motivations for franchising, with only a few exploring franchising as a route to self-employment. This paper seeks to provide a conceptual framework which examines the value of franchising to franchisees, employing an intellectual capital perspective. It is suggested that the (perceived) value of the franchise system is unlikely to remain static over time, and that the perceived benefits of franchise systems will vary according to both system and franchisee attributes.

特许经营的契约性质

特许经营的契约是一组无形资产"捆绑"在一起融入某种商品交易中的复合契约;契约中交易的收入条款往往没有直接确定无形资产的独立价格,而是确定为一个基数加上某种商品交易收入的分成;契约中交易的使用条款通常包含特许人对受许人生产经营过程的"干预"、"指挥"和"协调"方面的规定。契约实质是一组无形资产的间接定价机制。     

Home-grown middle eastern franchises: prospects for the future

This research explores the local factors that drive the competitiveness of Middle Eastern food service franchises in international markets. The literature on franchising is largely concerned with the success and competitiveness of Western franchises in global markets, with little information on the Middle East. This is despite its relevance as a major franchise market, with an economy shifting towards oil-alternative businesses. When referenced, the region is depicted solely as a host to foreign franchise operations, overlooking the opportunities of local businesses to adopt franchising as a strategy for international expansion. A qualitative case study methodology is applied to prominent food service franchises from Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. The cases highlight real experiences of success and failure in specific regional and international markets, and suggest that culture contributes to international competitiveness. Implications for future research are discussed.

     

The use of initial fees and royalties in business-format franchising

This paper provides an explanation of franchising's fee structure, drawing on principal agency and labor economics theory. The predictive framework includes constructs such as channel control, franchisor services, franchisee risk and the franchisor's capital constraints. The empirical investigation of a representative sample of franchise chains indicates that channel control is the major factor influencing the payment design. The results are used to test managerial implications about the use of an optimal fee structure in the growth of chains.     

特许经营的风险分析

特许经营作为一种全新的商业模式 ,在我国的大城市、沿海地区、经济特区迅猛发展。它的巨大优势已被其海外一百余年的发展历史所证明 ,但在其优势背后也潜藏着经营风险。本文从特许人和受许人两方面分析了其潜在的风险,并根据正常营业的加盟店的经营情况进行了风险测算 ,用内部收益率法和净现值法来计算其收益。     

Franchisee Associations as Sources of Bargaining Power? Some Evidence

The empirical literature in economics and strategy on contract structure, including on franchise contract structure, has been largely based on agency and transaction cost theories. The effects of bargaining power have been much less studied. This paper considers the role of independent franchisee associations in franchising relationships as a means to test for the presence of bargaining power effects. We find that the presence or absence of a franchisee association is significantly related to each of three key contractual and relationship characteristics: contract duration, noncompete stringency, and terminations/nonrenewals. This suggests that bargaining power should be accounted for in studies of contract structure and relationship outcomes.     

Best fit,best practice,or stuck in the middle? The impact of unit ownership on unit HR performance in franchise systems

Franchising is an important form of entrepreneurial wealth creation in many retailing and service industries. Since Human Resource Management (HRM) is a critical factor in such industries, it is important to understand how franchisees—as semi-autonomous entrepreneurs—deal with HRM in their units and how this ultimately affects performance at the unit level. However, the very few studies linking franchisee HRM behaviors to performance have not included multi-unit franchising (MUF) as a type of unit ownership. Given the ever-increasing popularity of MUF and the unique characteristics of MUFs, this represents an important knowledge gap. We aim to fill this gap by building a theoretical framework on how the type of unit ownership affects unit HR performance within franchise systems. Building on agency, resource and entrepreneurship perspectives, we propose that units owned by single-unit franchisees (SUFs) and small MUFs (i.e., franchisees with a very small number of units) adopt a ‘best fit’ system regarding HRM, whereas company-owned units (COs) and units owned by larger MUFs (i.e., franchisees with a large number of units) typically adopt a ‘best practice’ system. Each system has its own advantages and disadvantages, which results in two contrasting propositions regarding their effects on unit performance. Moreover, we expect the units owned by medium-size MUFs to have the lowest performance since they are ‘stuck in the middle’ regarding their HRM system.     

论特许经营的主体

我国原国内贸易部制定的《商业特许经营管理办法》对于特许经营中受许人和特许人有诸多限制,这与各国法律相比显得甚为苛刻,这种不合理的规定已经制约了我国特许经营事业的发展。无论是从经济、法律还是从实践方面分析,我国立法对于特许经营以主体不同区别对待,然后再决定是否准入的规定都应当早日予以废除,以充分调动社会资源,促进我国特许经营事业的发展。     

Inter-organizational communication as a relational competency: Antecedents and performance outcomes in collaborative buyer–supplier relationships

Inter-organizational communication has been documented as a critical factor in promoting strategic collaboration among firms. In this paper, we seek to extend the stream of research in supply chain management by systematically investigating the antecedents and performance outcomes of inter-organizational communication. Specifically, inter-organizational communication is proposed as a relational competency that may yield strategic advantages for supply chain partners. Using structural equation modeling, we empirically test a number of hypothesized relationships based on a sample of over 200 United States firms. Our results provide strong support for the notion of inter-organizational communication as a relational competency that enhances buyers’ and suppliers’ performance. Implications for future research and practice are offered.     

Time will tell: interaction effects of franchising percentages and age on franchisor mortality rates

Drawing from franchising and organizational ecology literatures, we hypothesize that franchising provides benefits to franchisors by addressing issues of adverse selection, moral hazard, holdup, obsolescence, and senescence. We assert that, over time, these benefits increase such that the more a franchise chain utilizes franchisees rather than company-owned outlets, the greater the franchising benefits accrue to the franchisor. We test our propositions by studying the mortality rates of 393 franchise organizations in the U.S. automotive products and services sector over the 21-year time period 1985–2005, using proportional hazard analysis. We find that older franchise chains with higher percentages of franchised units have lower mortality rates than older franchise chains with lower percentages of franchised units. We also find that younger franchise chains with higher percentages of franchised units have higher mortality rates than younger franchise chains with lower percentages of franchised units.     

Identifying and evaluating strategic partners for collaborative R&D: Index-based approach using patents and publications

Identifying and selecting appropriate strategic partners have been the subject of many previous studies: but most have dealt with partner selection that has relied heavily on experts' judgements: the value of a literature-based quantitative approach as a source of technology intelligence has seldom been addressed. This paper therefore aims to develop a systematic framework to guide strategic partner selection, taking a literature-based approach. Reviewing the factors that can lead to successful R&D partnerships to develop partner selection criteria, we designed 14 indexes – grouped into four major categories – to reflect desirable partner characteristics, and used the literature data to suggest a framework for prioritising potential partners. As data sources, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the ISI Web of Science databases are adopted for patent analysis and publication analysis, respectively. This research applied the framework to identify strategic R&D partners for Korean firms and found that the use of literature data enabled a wide ranging search for potential partners and the quick analysis of their characteristics, with results that provided objective evidence for selection decisions. It also investigated the relative importance of literature databases and that of the four decision criteria by industry, and examined the relationships between the indexes to improve the application of the framework. The suggested framework is expected to be valuable as a complementary tool for decision-making about R&D collaboration.