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Franchise management capabilities and franchisor performance under alternative franchise ownership strategies

William E. Gillis, James G. Combs and Xiaoli Yin

Journal of Business Venturing, 2020, vol. 35, issue 1

Abstract: Franchising is a key entrepreneurial growth strategy, but a well-known downside is franchisee free-riding. Drawing upon alliance capabilities research, we describe franchise management capabilities and suggest that they are one way franchisors reduce free-riding and thus enhance performance. We also submit that these capabilities are especially helpful for “plural form” franchisors who own outlets in parallel with franchisees. Using a sample of 229 franchisors, we show that franchise management capabilities relate positively to franchisor performance among plural form franchisors. For “turnkey” franchisors who franchise all, or almost all, outlets these capabilities relate indirectly to performance through lower opportunism and improved brand reputation. Franchise management capability is therefore an important new theoretical construct linking franchising to franchisor performance.

Keywords: Franchising; Venture performance; Alliance management capabilities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:35:y:2020:i:1:s0883902617307760

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2018.09.004

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