Thesis (doctoral)--Universiẗat Köln, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 187-204).

Thesis (MTech (Business)) --Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009 / The Faculty of Business at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology conducts research in the niche area: “The Effective Management of SMMEs” as identified by the National Research Foundation of South Africa. The research contained within the ambit of this thesis, has as its objective to establish the current position of performance measures utilised daily in the business activities by fast food franchisees, to raise awareness of future performance drivers (i.e. the critical success factors or non-financials aspects), and to highlight the importance of measuring the key performance areas of both financials and non-financial indicators as significant contributors to sustainability and growth of an enterprise. The challenge managers is currently faced with pertain to the managing of businesses for results i.e. identifying the drivers of financial success, finding a balance to measure financial and non-financial performances, appraising and compensating people’s performance. Lacking such tools, businesses have encountered difficulties managing what they could not describe or measure, or that are exposed to the risk of failure. Financial accounting (historic information) does not provide details about factors that actually help grow market share and profits (the main drivers of future performance). The questions which should be asked, are: Are the managers of fast food franchisees able to identify critical information or articulate factors that are important to actually help grow market share and profits? What tools are utilized to measure and drive value in real-time? To what level is performance measured, and what is the role and purpose of the utilised measures in the fast food franchisees? Most importantly, to what extent are franchisees in the fast food industry equipped by franchisors through a franchise “package”? This remains problematic as the need to identify and understand information critical for decision making in the fast food industry becomes imperative for the growth and sustainability of the organization. To answer these questions, the performance measures actually used by franchisees, will be surveyed. The proposed study will involve the collection, compilation, and analysis of both financials and non-financials performance measures using survey data from fast food franchisees within the Cape Metropolis. Quantitative data will be collected through opened and closed ended questionnaires (distributed to owners/managers of outlets) to document the existing performance measures and resulting perceived benefits. The outcome of this thesis will help franchisees to identify critical success factors and raise awareness with franchisors on inadequacies in the franchise package, so as to contribute to the effective management of small businesses. Furthermore, the research will be of importance in empowering the fast food sector to take advantages of alternative performance measures, improve their business efficiencies and increase their capacity to grow and be sustainable.

Cette thèse est composée de quatre essais relatifs à l'impact des choix organisationnels sur la performance dans les réseaux de franchise. Conçue comme une contribution à l'économie managériale, la thèse est fondée sur les théories de l'organisation industrielle, et met en oeuvre des techniques d'économétrie appliquée pour aborder des problématiques ayant des implications managériales.La première partie de la thèse porte sur les structures organisationnelles des réseaux de franchise, et sur leur impact en termes de perfomance. Plus précisément, le Chapitre 2 étudie l'impact d'une série de choix organisationnels de l'entreprise amont (le franchiseur). Le Chapitre 3 s'intéresse àJ'influence de l'introduction de franchisées multi·unités dans le réseau.La deuxième partie de la thèse porte sur les choix contractuels, plus précisément sur les liens entre le taux de redevance et la perfomance des réseaux de franchise. Ainsi, le Chapitre 4 étudie l'influence des problèmes d'incitation sur la définition du taux de redevance, et les implications sur la performance financière du réseau. Alors que les travaux antérieurs dans la littérature empirique ont révélé l'inadaptation de la théorie du signal pour comprendre les choix contractuels des réseaux de franchise dans les pays développés, le Chapitre 5 porte l'analyse sur un pays émergent, le Brésil, et montre que la déternination du taux de redevance est influencée par une motivation de signal liée à la perfomance future du réseau.L'introduction générale, Chapitre 1, met en évidence l'intérêt de travailler sur les réseaux de franchise et présente les objectifs et les orientations de la thèse. Une conclusion générale est proposée en Chapitre 6. / This dissertation is composed of four essays dealing with the impact of organizational choices on franchised network performance.The dissertation, conceived as a contribution to managerial economics, is based on the theories of industrial organization and implements applied econometric tools to address issues with managerial implications.The first part of the dissertation focuses on the governance structures and their impact on network performance. Chapter 2 studies the influence of the upstream organizational choices on network performance and Chapter 3 deals with the impact of multi-unit franchising on network perfonnance.The second part of the dissertation addresses the relationship between the royalty rate and the franchised network perfonnance. Chapter 4 studies the influence on the royalty rate of incentive motivations and risk issues at the downstream leve!, in addition to the impact of the royalty rate on network perfonnance. Chapter 5 deals with the effect of signaling motivations on the royalty rate regarding new Brazilian franchisors with a high value business concept.As a general introduction, Chapter 1 discusses the interest in studying franchising and outlines the focus of the dissertation.The final chapter, Chapter 6, concludes the dissertation and identifies future research directions.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the investment process within Swedish franchises. Furthermore, the study aims to investigate the franchisees participation in the investment process. Theory: The theoretical framework of reference in this essay consists of hand-picked theories and previous research articles of the investment process and franchise. Method: The thesis is a qualitative case study in which semi-structured interviews have been conducted with four cases. All companies are full members of the Swedish Franchise Association. Empirics: The data collected through semi-structured interviews is presented company á company to make the essay as clear and transparent as possible. Analysis of the empiricism comes in a separate section where the data is set against the theoretical framework of reference. Conclusion: The study results in the absence of a specific model for the investment process of Swedish franchises. The weight the companies put into the different phases of the investment process varies depending on how the franchise concept is structured. The study shows that franchisees participation in the investment process varies for the same reason. / Syfte: Syftet med denna undersökning är att undersöka investeringsprocessen i svenska franchiseföretag. Vidare är syftet att undersöka franchisetagarens delaktighet i investeringsprocessen. Teori: Den teoretiska referensramen i denna uppsats består av handplockade teorier och tidigare forskning rörande investeringsprocessen och franchise. Metod: Uppsatsen är en kvalitativ fallstudie där semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med fyra fallföretag. Samtliga företag är fullvärdiga medlemmar i Svenska Franchiseföreningen. Empiri: Den data som samlats in med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer presenteras företag för företag i syfte att göra uppsatsen så tydlig och transparent som möjligt. Analys av empiri presenteras i ett eget avsnitt där datan ställs mot den teoretiska referensramen. Slutsats: Undersökningen påvisar att det inte finns någon specifik modell för investeringsprocessen i svenska franchiseföretag. Tyngden företagen lägger i de olika faserna av investeringsprocessen varierar beroende på hur franchisekonceptet är uppbyggt. Undersökningen visar att franchisetagares delaktighet i investeringsprocessen varierar av samma anledning.

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El presente trabajo de investigación tuvo como objetivo determinar los criterios para regular el contrato de franquicia a fin de proteger-promover la inversión y el desarrollo de la economía en el Perú a fin de obtener una seguridad jurídica al momento de invertir en este sistema, se utilizó para el desarrollo del estudio el método cualitativo haciendo uso de la técnica del fichaje, recolección de información y así mismo el método analítico realizando un análisis de la legislación comparada, permitiendo recopilar matices necesarios para adecuarlos a nuestro ordenamiento en busca de mejoras en el plano jurídico y económico. Por otro lado, como resultados obtenidos tenemos que este contrato ha adquirido una gran importancia en nuestro país y el mundo, debido a su sistema adaptable el franquiciado tiene la oportunidad de adquirir un modelo de ventas exitoso que satisfacen las necesidades del mercado. Además, este sistema se inició en el mercado nacional y se expandió en el exterior, principalmente en el sector gastronómico y hasta el día de hoy se ha expandido en diversos campos lo que permite determinar que existe oportunidad de crecimiento para los inversionistas. Del mismo modo, el estado debe instaurar, promover e implementar medidas legislativas que aseguren la protección de este. Finalmente se pudo determinar algunos criterios para su regulación siendo los más relevantes: entrega de información precontractual, los principios, el periodo mínimo de duración, los manuales de operaciones, las marcas y patentes, cláusulas de no competencia y confidencialidad y medios para la solución de conflictos. / The present research work had as objective to determine the criteria to regulate the franchise contract in order to protect-promote the investment and the development of the economy in Peru in order to obtain a legal security at the moment of investing in this system, it was used for the development of the study the qualitative method making use of the technique of the file, information gathering and likewise the analytical method making an analysis of the compared legislation, allowing to compile necessary nuances to adapt them to our ordering in search of improvements in the legal and economic level. On the other hand, as results obtained, we have that this contract has acquired a great importance in our country and the world, due to its adaptable system the franchisee has the opportunity to acquire a successful sales model that satisfies the needs of the market. In addition, this system started in the domestic market and expanded abroad, mainly in the gastronomic sector and to this day has expanded in various fields, which allows us to determine that there is an opportunity for growth for investors. Likewise, the state must establish, promote and implement legislative measures to ensure its protection. Finally, it was possible to determine some criteria for its regulation, the most relevant being: delivery of pre-contractual information, principles, minimum duration period, operation manuals, trademarks and patents, non-competition and confidentiality clauses and means for conflict resolution.

Franchising is the primary force in the growth and survival of the hospitality industry. Franchise systems contain legally independent, economically interdependent, and politically affective franchise organizations. Strategic management in hospitality franchise systems with emphasis on implementation methods is investigated in the present study. Impact of sources of power (economic and noneconomic), held by the franchisors, on franchisees’ strategy implementation process and eventual performance are also included in this study. Single unit Quick Service Restaurant (OSR) franchisees from six different concepts have participated in this study. A total of ten research hypotheses are empirically tested using various statistical procedures. The current study demonstrates that implementation plays an important role in determining performance (satisfaction) of an organization. It also shows that sources of power impact organizational performance (satisfaction) whether measured as revenues or profits. The QSR franchisees’ satisfaction with franchise arrangements is affected by the nature power sources. The results indicate that some implementation models are more effective than others, and different performance objectives demand different implementation models. The "match" between the outcome objectives and the implementation model is essential to achieve the desired performance. Different sources of power (coercive, legitimate, referent, and information) have varying effects on organizational performance, financial or nonfinancial. Originality of the instrument is one of the major methodological contributions of the study. Positive and statistically significant results achieved in the current study offer empirical validity to the instrument. Another major contribution is the confirmation of earlier studies by several authors on relation between power and satisfaction, and power and performance using the hospitality industry setting. The results also indicate that for long term survival, the OSR franchisees must consider different implementation models and their congruence with the nature of power present in the franchise system. / Ph. D.

This thesis analyses the existing legal framework that applies to franchising in South Africa today. The study begins with an examination of the history and nature of the franchise contract, focusing particularly on the nature of the franchise relationship. This study is undertaken in order to substantiate the argument that franchising is a unique method of doing business. There is a need therefore to recognise that the franchise contract is a special contract in its own right, just like contracts of sale, lease, insurance and suretyship. The study then goes on to examine the problems which are experienced in the sector, as well as the law which must provide solutions to these problems. The research will show that in a modern commercial world the existing legal framework, especially the common law, cannot adequately deal with many of these problems. The complex relationship between franchising and competition law is also explored. A common thread that emerges from franchise disputes is the lack of protection afforded to the interests of franchisees. Franchisees tend to be at the mercy of economically stronger franchisors, hence the belief that there is a need for a stronger regulatory framework. The study then shifts to proposals for reform. In 2000 the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) established the Franchise Steering Committee in conjunction with the Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA) to review the regulatory environment. This Committee drafted franchise legislation which aimed to bring the regulation of the sector under the control of the DTI. This legislation has not been implemented and the DTI has changed its strategy. Instead of dealing with franchising independently, franchising will fall within the scope of consumer protection legislation. Both the consumer protection legislation and the legislation proposed by the Franchise Steering Committee are thoroughly examined and explained. Shortcomings in the proposals are highlighted and an alternative approach is recommended. It is proposed that franchise-specific legislation should be introduced but that this legislation should establish a system of co-regulation between the government and the franchise sector.

Botswana is a middle-income economy. It has become dependent on non-renewable resources. Agriculture and manufacturing have failed to develop in a significant way. The small population has not provided adequate demand. The Government has tried a number of strategies in order to diversify the economy. One of these is the promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Unfortunately, SMEs have failed to thrive, so far. A number of researchers have concluded that SMEs will not thrive due to the fact that Botswana have low entrepreneurial skills. High failure rates are experienced where enterprises are established. The thesis identifies an alternative strategy in the development of enterprises in Botswana. It is generally believed that a franchisee does not need high levels of entrepreneurial skills to succeed. If this is so, Botswana can solve her problem of lack of sufficient enterprises by promoting franchising. The thesis uses the interview technique to assess whether existing franchisees in Botswana have low levels of entrepreneurial skills. Indeed it proves that franchisees have low skill levels compared to non-franchised entrepreneurs. Secondly, the thesis proves that franchisees in Botswana operate as employee-managers. Thirdly, the thesis establishes that franchisees perform better than non-franchised entrepreneurs, even though they have low entrepreneurial skill levels. Lastly, the thesis, using evidence from findings above, and from responses of experts interviewed, establishes that the promotion of franchising is a viable alternative strategy to one that depends solely on non-franchised enterprises.While there are some methodological limitations, like those stemming from a low and unknown franchisee population in Botswana, the use of ordinal data, use of techniques to rate their own skills, and a relatively small sample for franchised and non-franchised entrepreneurs, the statistical techniques used are powerful enough to generate reliable findings. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / D.B.L

published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Science in Real Estate and Construction