The political economy of industrialisation

This paper analyses how incentives under different sets of political institutions map into policies that promote industrialisation. I set out an endogenous growth model with non-overlapping generations, where agents are heterogeneous with respect to wealth, skills and political power. The skills of the political elite play a crucial role for industrialisation to occur. It is shown that a flat wealth distribution and a skilled political elite enhance development the most in elitist regimes, while democracies perform as well as elitist regimes in terms of industrialisation. The theoretical results regarding elitist regimes are in line with evidence on the Industrial Revolution.     

Intellectual Property Securitization and Growth Capital in Retail Franchising

A retail franchisor needs growth capital so that the brand continues to grow and franchisor–franchisee relations remain strong. However, access to corporate liquidity to fund such franchise growth options is not unlimited. A method of raising finance particularly suited to retail franchisors is intellectual property (IP) securitization that allows companies to account for intangible assets such as intellectual property, royalty and brands and realize their full value. In recent years, a number of large restaurant franchisors have securitized their brands to raise funds, including Dunkin Brands and Domino's Pizza (Domino's). We use property rights approach to show that IP securitization provides mechanisms that explicitly define ownership of intangible assets within the securitization structure and thus enables a company to raise funds against these assets. Using a case study example of a retail franchise IP securitization transaction, we also provide evidence that these mechanisms are not overly restrictive and can be used more widely to help fund retail franchise growth and expansion.     

试论中国的特许经营行业

为了促进我国特许经营行业的发展,简要地介绍和评述了我国特许经营的发展现状,列举了目前我国特许经营中新出现的一些问题,如投资陷阱、故意违约及实力不强等,并提出了相应的对策。     

The stalemate of cable digital switchover: A study of competition effects and deregulation

This paper addresses the phenomenon of delayed cable digitization in Taiwan and reports the results of a longitudinal analysis, determining that (1) inter-platform competition, primarily from internet protocol television (IPTV), generates a strong and positive impact on the digitization of cable service after it acquires numerous customers; (2) the installed cable base induces economies of scale that increase its digital penetration; (3) the overbuild of the equivalent-size rivalry can increase digital adoption, whereas unequal-sized competition might reversely decrease it; and (4) the monthly flat fee charged to customers does not influence digital adoption. In addition, this paper presents a discussion on the policy instruments derived from econometric results. Although repealing the horizontal integration cap in the cable TV industry could generate economies of scale, doing so may encourage monopolization over several franchises. The efficacy of intra-platform competition is reserved only for certain cases. Combining the results of these analyses reveals that inter-platform competition most effectively stimulates cable operators’ digital conversion. Hence, regulators should create a level playing field among various TV platforms, such as equal programming access and open standards, to ensure a high degree of cable digitization     

银行特许权价值的内生风险约束效应——基于中国上市银行的实证研究

本文采用托宾Q值来衡量上市银行的特许权价值,基于分阶段动态回归模型,对银行特许权价值的影响因素及其风险约束效应进行研究。实证结果显示,外生性和内生性的银行特许权价值都有显著的风险约束效应;回归结果可以通过稳健性检验。     

Strategic alliances: a hospitality industry perspective

The article focuses on strategic alliance theory as it applies to the hospitality industry. Citing research as well as real-world examples, the authors integrate a variety of concepts and develop four propositions about the growing use of strategic alliances in the hospitality industry. These propositions include the following: P1: Hospitality alliances will evolve from equity joint ventures to collaborative joint ventures (non-equity) as competitor alliances will emerge. P2: Contractual agreements will evolve from simple franchise and management contracts to more complex resource-sharing, non-equity agreements. P3: Complex resource sharing between allying partners will help incumbent firms build relationships with partner firms that will lead to the development of competitor alliances. P4: Technology will help in the development of competitor alliances, which will also help to increase incumbent firms’ productivity and profitability.     

Franchiser influence strategy use and franchisee experience and dependence

Data from a survey of franchisees of a packaging, mailing, and business services franchise system indicate franchisers make more frequent use of requests, threats, and legalistic pleas, and less use of recommendations to coordinate less dependent franchisees. Franchisee dependence mediates the relationship between franchisee experience and franchiser use of recommendations, threats, and legalistic pleas. At the same time, it is interesting to find that franchiser use of information exchange and promise does not vary as franchisees mature in a system.     

An Analysis of Advertising Payments in Franchise Contracts

ABSTRACT

National advertising is an important ongoing marketing activity in a franchise arrangement. A majority of franchisors require franchisees to pay an advertising royalty as a percentage of gross revenues while some require franchisees to pay a fixed advertising fee. These payments are earmarked for national advertising. We investigate the relationship between the franchisor's profits and the different types of advertising payments in franchise contracts. Our model incorporates the idea that the franchisor and franchisee are in an ongoing relationship where there is demand uncertainty. We show that specification of an advertising payment in the form of a fixed fee or a royalty is better than no specification since it commits the franchisor to invest the payments in advertising. We demonstrate that the advertising royalty specification is more flexible since it permits the advertising expenditure to be adjusted based on information that is not available at the time the contract is written.     

Sorting,Franchising and Real Estate Brokerage Firms

Real estate markets remain localized and reflect differences by region. With a large number of brokerage firms and a smaller number of franchisors, a testable hypothesis is whether in equilibrium fees and royalties are equal to the additional return to the franchisee. If fees are set uniformly across the country, economic rents may be earned in specific local markets. Some franchisees may earn excess profits from the franchise arrangement. Empirical results for 1,143 United States residential brokerage firms in 2001 show standardized uniform franchising costs cover any added returns to franchises in the Midwest and South. Excess returns are present for franchisees in the Northeast. The probability of being a franchisee increases with size and scale.     

Divisionalization and franchising incentives with integral competing units

Existing game-theoretic models of divisionalization and franchising treat each firm's number of competing units as a continuous variable. We account for the integer constraint on divisions, and show that the continuous case reasonably approximates the equilibria of the discrete game.