Background – The franchising industry in Sweden has experienced a vast growth in the recent years, and it makes up a significant part of the Swedish economy. The restaurant industry accounts for a large amount of the Swedish franchises. Due to the dynamic business environment today, companies need to increasingly strive for improvement in order to sustain their competitive advantage and to enhance their performance. Innovation may be required, and franchises are no exceptions. However, due to the nature of the franchise systems, with the franchisor imposing particular policies on the individual franchisees, the position of innovation in this context is not clear. On one hand, a franchise should act innovatively in order to remain competitive in the marketplace, but on the other hand, the franchisor limits the activities of the franchisee to ensure system uniformity through brand and quality management. The position of innovation in the franchise context is ambiguous, since very little research has been conducted on the topic. Purpose – The purpose of this thesis is to examine Swedish franchises within the restaurant industry and to determine the position of innovation in the franchise context from the perspective of the franchisee. Method – A case study with semi-structured interviews with five franchisees in a specific region in Sweden were conducted to gain empirical material on the topic of innovation within restaurant franchises. The obtained data was then analyzed with the help of existing literature on innovation and franchise systems. Conclusion – It was discovered that Swedish franchises within the restaurant industry pursue product and marketing innovation. The innovation is mostly incremental, rather than radical. Several different factors contribute to why franchisees pursue innovation. It was also identified that some Swedish franchisors take an active role in encouraging innovation in the franchises, while other franchisors have a more passive, or even discouraging stance towards franchise innovation.

<p>Bakgrund: Franchisekedjors framgång är beroende av att affärsidén följs till punkt och pricka, vilket medför att franchisetagare på många sätt blir styrda och begränsade i sitt agerande. Franchisetagare bör emellertid, inom de grundläggande ramarna, få ett visst spelrum för att driva sin verksamhet. En central fråga för franchisegivare är således hur de ska utforma de ramar inom vilka franchisetagarna ska hålla sig.</p><p>Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka vad franchisegivare ämnar uppnå genom att styra sina franchisetagare samt att beskriva hur de styr, vilka styrproblem som den aktuella styrningen kan motverka och vilka bieffekter som kan uppstå.</p><p>Genomförande: Studien bygger på en litteraturstudie av texter som på olika sätt relaterar till franchising.</p><p>Resultat: Franchisegivare strävar mot att få franchisetagare att fokusera på enhetlighet, en tillfredställande kvalitet och hög omsättning. Styrning sker framför allt genom omfattande direktstyrning i form av drifthandböcker och franchiseavtal, vilka både begränsar franchisetagarnas handlingar samt tydliggör vilka beteenden som är önskvärda. Personalstyrning, i form av rekrytering är ett mycket viktigt styrverktyg då det är av yttersta vikt för franchisegivare att hitta franchisetagare med de rätta attityderna. Den omfattande direktstyrningen kan skapa konflikter mellan parterna samt hämma franchisetagares initiativförmåga.</p> / <p>Background: The success of franchise systems is to a large extent dependent on the strict following of the business concept, which implies that the franchisees’ behaviour in many ways is controlled and restricted. Franchisees should, however, within the frames of the business concept, be given a certain amount of freedom to manage their business. Thus, a key question for franchisors is how to design the frames within which the franchisees should operate.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate what franchisors intend to achieve by controlling their franchisees and to describe how they use management control, which control problems the management control can counteract and which side effects that may arise.</p><p>Realisation: The study was carried out through a literature study.</p><p>Results: Franchisors strive to encourage franchisees to focus on uniformity, a satisfying level of quality and high turnover. Management control is mainly carried out through extensive use of action control in the form of manuals and franchise contracts, which restrict the franchisees’ actions as well as clarify desirable behaviors. Personnel control, in the form of recruitment, is a highly important tool, since it is crucial for franchisors to find franchisees with the right attitudes. The comprehensive use of action control may cause conflicts between the parties as well as inhibit the franchisees’ initiatives.</p>

Bakgrund: Franchisekedjors framgång är beroende av att affärsidén följs till punkt och pricka, vilket medför att franchisetagare på många sätt blir styrda och begränsade i sitt agerande. Franchisetagare bör emellertid, inom de grundläggande ramarna, få ett visst spelrum för att driva sin verksamhet. En central fråga för franchisegivare är således hur de ska utforma de ramar inom vilka franchisetagarna ska hålla sig. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka vad franchisegivare ämnar uppnå genom att styra sina franchisetagare samt att beskriva hur de styr, vilka styrproblem som den aktuella styrningen kan motverka och vilka bieffekter som kan uppstå. Genomförande: Studien bygger på en litteraturstudie av texter som på olika sätt relaterar till franchising. Resultat: Franchisegivare strävar mot att få franchisetagare att fokusera på enhetlighet, en tillfredställande kvalitet och hög omsättning. Styrning sker framför allt genom omfattande direktstyrning i form av drifthandböcker och franchiseavtal, vilka både begränsar franchisetagarnas handlingar samt tydliggör vilka beteenden som är önskvärda. Personalstyrning, i form av rekrytering är ett mycket viktigt styrverktyg då det är av yttersta vikt för franchisegivare att hitta franchisetagare med de rätta attityderna. Den omfattande direktstyrningen kan skapa konflikter mellan parterna samt hämma franchisetagares initiativförmåga. / Background: The success of franchise systems is to a large extent dependent on the strict following of the business concept, which implies that the franchisees’ behaviour in many ways is controlled and restricted. Franchisees should, however, within the frames of the business concept, be given a certain amount of freedom to manage their business. Thus, a key question for franchisors is how to design the frames within which the franchisees should operate. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate what franchisors intend to achieve by controlling their franchisees and to describe how they use management control, which control problems the management control can counteract and which side effects that may arise. Realisation: The study was carried out through a literature study. Results: Franchisors strive to encourage franchisees to focus on uniformity, a satisfying level of quality and high turnover. Management control is mainly carried out through extensive use of action control in the form of manuals and franchise contracts, which restrict the franchisees’ actions as well as clarify desirable behaviors. Personnel control, in the form of recruitment, is a highly important tool, since it is crucial for franchisors to find franchisees with the right attitudes. The comprehensive use of action control may cause conflicts between the parties as well as inhibit the franchisees’ initiatives.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:15:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 1992-03-16T00:00:00Z / Trata da adoção do tipo de sistema de franchising chamado de 'Business Format Franchising' pelas empresas brasileiras, as razões desta adoção, as dificuldades para sua implantação e as transformações nos canais de distribuição utilizados por estas mesmas empresas. Aponta ainda as tendências deste tipo de sistema no mercado brasileiro.