Analysis of the business entity, its competitiveness and the rules for its use as a franchise concept. Creation of the operating manual for the selected business entity.

Master's thesis deals with the possibility of expansion and the expansion of existing business with franchising chain.The creation of own franchising concept is still very scarcity in The Czech republic, because the possibility of expansion is not sufficiently well known to Czech entrepreneurs. The outcome of the work will be proposing the concept of franchising for the company AUTO HORÁK. The concept is designed to allow a basis for its expansion.

Franchisetagares underlägsna ställning gentemot franchisegivare är ett ämne som varit föremål för diskussion under de senaste decennierna. Franchising är en affärsmodell som förenklat kan beskrivas som en samarbetsform mellan näringsidkare där franchisetagare, mot ersättning, får nyttja ett av franchisegivaren etablerat och beprövat affärskoncept. Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att utreda och analysera franchisetagares rättsliga skydd i Sverige och vilka avtalsrätts- liga begränsningar de ska behöva acceptera för att kunna utöva sin grundlagsskyddade frihet att bedriva näringsverksamhet. Franchising som samarbetsform förenklar möjligheterna att tillträda marknaden eftersom fran- chisetagare erhåller en rätt att nyttja ett redan etablerat varumärke. Därutöver kan franchiseta- gare åtnjuta stordriftsfördelar, vilket är en fördel som andra nystartade småföretag inte erhåller. Trots att franchise i regel sänker inträdesbarriärerna till marknaden är franchisetagare genom franchiseavtalet begränsade i sina möjligheter att expandera verksamheten. För att kunna ex- pandera till nya geografiska marknader och produktmarknader krävs att parterna kommer över- ens om det. Även om franchisetagare kan vara begränsade till en viss marknad kan marknads- uppdelning vara positivt eftersom det tillförsäkrar franchisetagaren en ensamrätt att i ett visst geografiskt område nyttja affärskonceptet. Avtalsfriheten är en del av näringsfriheten och är en central och grundläggande frihet inom avtalsrätten. Trots detta är inte avtalsfriheten någon absolut rättighet utan den kan begränsas med hänsyn till allmänintresset. Att maktförhållandet i franchiserelationer är ojämnt och att franchisetagares handlingsfrihet är mer begränsad än vid andra samarbetsformer följer av af- färsmodellens utformning. Att bedriva företag som franchisetagare påverkar bland annat fri- heten att styra verksamhetens inriktning och möjligheterna att fortsätta driva verksamheten efter att avtalstiden löpt ut. Trots att huvudregeln är att avtalsvillkor mellan näringsidkare inte ska jämkas kan det med hänsyn till omständigheterna i det enskilda fallet vara motiverat att be- gränsa franchisegivarens avtalsfrihet med hänsyn till franchisetagares underlägsna ställning. Såväl på nationell som unionsrättslig nivå har det anförts att det finns ett behov av förstärkt skydd för franchisetagare. Bland annat har det ansetts finnas behov av ett utökat skydd vad gäller deras förhandlingsrätt, uppsägningsrätt och möjligheter att angripa oskäliga avtalsvillkor. I svensk rätt finns endast en franchisespecifik lag som infördes för att stärka franchisetagares ställning. Denna lag har dock aldrig tillämpats av allmän domstol och reglerar endast franchi- segivares skyldighet att lämna information innan ingående av avtal med franchisetagare. Likväl har den svenska lagstiftaren bedömt att det saknas behov av ytterligare reglering och att tvister kan hanteras inom ramen för befintlig lagstiftning. Dessutom har svenska domstolar varit för- siktiga med att oskälighetspröva avtalsvillkor mellan näringsidkare eftersom näringsverksam- het är ett medvetet risktagande. Trots detta har befintliga skyddsregler kritiserats för att vara innehållslösa och inte fylla något verkligt behov. För att lagstiftningen ska kunna konstateras vara proportionerlig och tillfredsställande bör den franchisespecifika regleringen samt franchi- setagares behov av utökat skydd ses över. / Franchisees inferior position towards franchisors is a topic that has been a subject of discussion for the past few decades. Franchising is a business model that can be simply described as a form of cooperation between business where franchisees, against compensation, can use a business concept established and proven by the franchisor. The aim of this essay has been to investigate and analyze the legal protection of franchisees in Sweden and which contractual limitations they should have to accept to be able to exercise their constitutionally protected freedom to conduct business. Franchising as a form of cooperation simplifies the opportunities to enter the market because franchisees receive a right to use an already known brand. In addition, franchisees can enjoy economies of scale, which is an advantage that other start-up small business do not receive. Although franchising generally lowers the entry barriers to the market, franchisees are limited in their opportunities to expand the business due to the franchise agreement. To be able to ex- pand into new geographic markets and product markets, it is required that the parties agree about it. Although franchisees may be limited to a certain market, market segmentation can be positive because it ensures the franchisee an exclusive right to use the business concept in a certain geographic area. The freedom of contract is part of the freedom to conduct a business and is a central and fun- damental freedom in contract law. Despite this, the freedom of contract is not an absolute right, it can be limited in consideration of the public interest. It follows from the design of the business model that the balance of power in franchise relationships is uneven and that franchisees free- dom of action is more limited than in other forms of cooperation. Conducting a business as a franchisee affects, among other things, the freedom to control the direction of the business and the possibilities of continuing to run the business after the contract period has expired. Although the main rule is that contractual terms between traders should not be equalized, considering the circumstances of the individual case, it may be justified to limit the franchisors freedom of contract regarding the inferior position of franchisees. Both at national and EU level, it has been argued that there is a need for enhanced protection for franchisees. Among other things, it has been considered that there is a need for extended protection in terms of their right to negotiate, right to terminate and opportunities to tackle unfair contract terms. In Swedish law, there is only one franchise-specific law that was intro- duced to strengthen the position of franchisees. However, this law has never been applied by a general court and only regulates the obligation of franchisors to provide information before entering into agreements with franchisees. Nevertheless, the Swedish legislator has assessed that there is no need for further regulation and that disputes can be handled within the frame- work of existing legislation. In addition, Swedish courts have been careful to test the unfairness of contractual terms between companies because business activity is a deliberate risk-taking. Despite this, existing protection rules have been criticized for being empty of substance and not fulfilling any real need. For the legislation to be found to be proportionate and satisfactory, the legal regulation as well as franchisees need for extended protection should be reviewed.

CSR har varit ett välbekant ämne sedan 1950-talet och antal franchisesamar- beten i Sverige ökar visar Svenska Franchiseförenings undersökning från 2018. Teorin beskriver även vikten av en tydlig kommunikation och strategi för franchisekoncernens CSR-arbete, trots detta finns det ett gap av studier specifikt inriktade på CSR inom franchising. Därför avser studien att bidra med en fördjupad förståelse för hur CSR-arbete kommuniceras till och av lo- kala franchisetagare. Studien utgick från en induktiv kvalitativ fallstudie på ICA Gruppen där empirisk data insamling skedde via analys av organisat- ionsdokument i form av den centrala hållbarhetsredovisningar från redovis- ningsår 2017 och 2018. Empirisk data insamlades även via semi-strukture- rade intervjuer med två stycken ICA Maxi franchisetagare. Empirisk data i form av den centrala hållbarhetsredovisningen avsågs bidra med förståelse för hur CSR-arbetet kommuniceras till lokala franchisetagare, medan de se- mistrukturerade intervjuerna avsågs bidra med förståelse för hur den lokala franchisetagaren tolkar och implementerar det centralt kommunicerade CSR- arbetet. Studiens slutsats är att franchisegivaren redogör för en global kom- munikationsstrategi gällande CSR-arbetet i hållbarhetsredovisningen, medan franchisetagaren i sin tur utformar sitt CSR-arbete anpassat till de lokala för- utsättningarna och möjligheterna.

ABSTRACT Aim: From its inception to its expansion nationally and internationally, the management of a restaurant franchise concept uses various critical success factors to overcome the barriers that they encounter throughout their different growth phases. This study aims to find out what the CSFs are for Swedish restaurant franchisors of different sizes, what barriers they encounter and what their solutions to these problems are. Method: This is a qualitative study. An initial study was performed by open-ended interviews with the CEOs of the Swedish Franchisor organization and the CEO of the Swedish Franchisee organization. Thereafter, ten semi-structured telephone interviews were held with the upper management at Swedish restaurant franchisor companies. Saturation was achieved after 6-8 interviews and the data was analyzed thematically. Results & Conclusions: Small franchisors focus on concept development, finding capital and finding franchisees. Two of the smaller franchisors used crowdfunding to finance their expansion. Larger franchisors focus on standardization, improving their quality and on brand building. The conclusion is that there are significant differences in the CSFs for small and large franchisors. Suggestions for future research: This study is limited in scope and limited in time. For future research, we would recommend a longitudinal study of several newborn franchise systems, to study them over several years and to see which CSFs are more important at different growth stages. Another research approach could be to rank the CSFs by using a quantitative method and work with a larger sample frame of franchisors. Or to study our fastest growing respondent. Contribution of the thesis: The main contribution to literature is that small franchisors focus on selecting the right franchisees and locations, large franchisors focus on developing the concept and on standardization. The main managerial implication is that franchisors of all sizes need to take a broad perspective and plan for different expansion phases. Keywords: Franchising, Franchisee, Franchisor, Critical Success Factors, CSFs, Restaurant Chain, Fast-Food chain, life cycle, expansion, barriers. / This is a study of what the most important tasks are to successfully expand ten franchised restaurant chains in Sweden. These tasks have been studied in various industries and are commonly referred to as "Critical Success Factors." It is interesting to study these tasks since the upper management in any company and industry need to be aware of what the most important tasks are for their company, as well as the need of measuring these tasks. The result of the study was that restaurant franchisors seem to have different CSFs depending on their size. Small franchisors focus more on, e.g., concept development, whereas large franchisors focus more on, e.g., standardization. The managerial implication is that managers in expanding franchise systems need to be aware that the CSFs change over time.

Submitted by Eduardo Pinto (eduardo.mspinto@gmail.com) on 2014-03-21T13:36:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 FGV - Dissertação - Franquia - Eduardo Pinto vFINAL.pdf: 1301841 bytes, checksum: 3ff0451019d18e22556eb604c91c768c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by ÁUREA CORRÊA DA FONSECA CORRÊA DA FONSECA (aurea.fonseca@fgv.br) on 2014-04-30T19:35:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 FGV - Dissertação - Franquia - Eduardo Pinto vFINAL.pdf: 1301841 bytes, checksum: 3ff0451019d18e22556eb604c91c768c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2014-05-07T17:48:57Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 FGV - Dissertação - Franquia - Eduardo Pinto vFINAL.pdf: 1301841 bytes, checksum: 3ff0451019d18e22556eb604c91c768c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-07T17:49:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FGV - Dissertação - Franquia - Eduardo Pinto vFINAL.pdf: 1301841 bytes, checksum: 3ff0451019d18e22556eb604c91c768c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-10 / The franchise system has been receiving increasing attention in media oriented business due to its great development in Brazil and around the world, with a high rate of growth, as well as having a great potential to reach even greater heights. Based on theories of agency and corporate resources, the main approaches in this sector have been described, expanding the concept of contract support of the relation between franchisors and franchisees for a qualitative analysis of the relationship between both parties, even identifying their evolutions over time, advantages and disadvantages, models and management challenges. A nationwide study conducted by Toledo and Proenca (2005) praised one of the big reasons that generate the failure of a franchise chain is the lack of commitment in maintaining good relationship with the franchisor to its franchisees. And this is the central theme of this work, in order to give due importance to this topic, showing how it is influenced by the degree of maturity of the chain and its relevance to business success. Through a comparative case study, exploratory investigation, having interviews with franchisors and franchisees of two chains in the Brazilian food segment as the primary form of data collection, results were obtained with the way the relationship has been managed by both parties, in different topics, and its relation to the stage of maturity in which the network is making the study relevant to the market, with both academic contributions, as the congruence of research, and corporate, as the connection of good practices and lessons learned with the concepts covered. / O sistema de franquias vem recebendo um destaque cada vez maior nas mídias voltadas para negócios devido ao seu grande desenvolvimento tanto no Brasil quanto no restante do mundo, apresentando um alto índice de crescimento, além de possuir um grande potencial para atingir patamares ainda maiores. Com base nas teorias da agência e de recursos da empresa, foram descritas as principais abordagens sobre este setor, ampliando o conceito de contrato como suporte da relação entre franqueadores e franqueados para uma análise qualitativa sobre o relacionamento entre as partes, identificando ainda suas evoluções ao longo do tempo, vantagens e desvantagens, modelos e desafios de gestão. Um estudo de âmbito nacional realizado por Toledo e Proença (2005) enalteceu que um dos grandes motivos que geram o insucesso de uma rede de franquias é a falta de comprometimento na manutenção do bom relacionamento do franqueador para com seus franqueados. E este é o tema central deste trabalho, com o objetivo de dar a devida importância a este tópico, mostrando como ele é influenciado pelo grau de maturidade da rede e a sua relevância para o sucesso do negócio. Através de um estudo comparativo de casos, de caráter exploratório, tendo como principal forma de coleta de dados as entrevistas presenciais realizadas com franqueadores e franqueados de duas redes no segmento de alimentação brasileiro, foram obtidos resultados quanto a forma com que o relacionamento tem sido gerido por ambas as partes, em diversos âmbitos, e a sua relação com o estágio de maturidade em que a rede se encontra, tornando o estudo relevante para o mercado, com contribuições tanto acadêmicas, como a congruência de pesquisas, quanto corporativas, como a conexão de boas práticas e lições aprendidas com os conceitos abordados.

This diploma thesis focuses on the methodology introduction of master franchise. In a particular market Czech Republic and market with car services specifies the steps in the implementation of new licenses on the market. It also contains specific business plan drawn up directly to the network service stations operating under one brand.

The aim was to assess the existing experience of franchisers and franchisees in the area of farm production. The research was carried out qualitatively in a form of structured interviews, and also quantitavely in a form of a survey. Franchisers were addressed by the structured interviews and the franchisees by the survey.

Submitted by BKAB Setor Proc. Técnicos FGV-SP (biblioteca.sp.cat@fgv.br) on 2013-03-11T18:02:42Z No. of bitstreams: 1 1199800362.pdf: 8051235 bytes, checksum: c9d6556eec7041191caa611c6f49b134 (MD5) / This study aims at investigate the current situation o f franchising system in Brazil and give a better comprehension of the reasons why franchisees defected from their franchising networks. Firstly, a theoretical framework is presented. Afterwards, the results of a exploratory research based on Case Studies methodology on eleven ex-franchisees from different networks. The goal is to identify the factors that caused insatisfaction with the franchise and the main reasons for defection. Lastly, the limitations and the contributions of the study, as well as some sugestions for future studies. / Este estudo procura investigar a atual situação do sistema de franquias no Brasil e propiciar uma maior compreensão das razões que levaram franqueados a desligarem-se de suas redes de franquias. Em primeiro lugar, apresenta-se um referencial teórico. Em seguida, são apresentados os resultados de uma pesquisa exploratória, baseada no Estudo de Casos, realizada junto a onze ex-franqueados de diferentes redes de franquias. Objetiva-se identificar os fatores que geraram a insatisfação com a franquia e os principais motivos de desligamento da rede. Por fim, são apresentadas as limitações e contribuições do estudo, bem como sugestões para estudos futuros.

This thesis deals with the development of IMJS s.r.o. company using franchising. The content of the thesis is the definition of theoretical basics dealing with the franchising type of business and individual analysis. After that the analysis of the current state of the company and the strategic analysis and the internal and external environment of the company are compiled. Then on in the practical part the pilot franchising concept of the company is created based on the analysis.