Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-141). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-141). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

The Statement of the Problem: This research proposes to identify and evaluate the existing management practices and management performance of two categories of restaurants by comparing the Chinese specialty restaurant to the American specialty restaurant in the Miami, Florida area.

Abstract and faculty adviser information are not available for this thesis.

The purpose of this study is to investigate franchisee turnover practice and empirically test the relationship between franchisee satisfaction and turnover behavior. A total of 402 franchisees of a quick service franchise system were surveyed by using two sets of structured questionnaires. Sixty-seven current and 24 terminated franchisee participated in the study, yielding a response rate of 29.8%. Based on the objective and research questions, two hypotheses were established and tested. The testing of the hypotheses indicated a significant difference between the satisfaction of terminated and current franchisees on service support, social interaction, and general satisfaction. Also, there is a relationship between franchisee’s satisfaction and his or her future intention. Through factor analysis two critical factors were identified closely related to the satisfaction and future intention of current and terminated franchisees. / Master of Science

The major purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of strategy and environmental scanning to performance. Porter’s (1980) strategic typology was utilized to classify foodservice firms by strategic orientation; and, an analysis of variance was performed to determine the differences in their performance. Environmental scanning engaged in by the firms was measured utilizing a modified multimethod - multitrait scale developed by Hambrick (1979). A final analysis conducted in this study was the comparison of environmental sectors scanned by high and low performing firms of each strategic group to determine their relationship with the performance variables. The three performance variables used in this study were: (a) Return on Sales, (b) Return on Assets, and (c) Growth in Unit Sales. All foodservice firms surveyed were either independent corporations or strategic business units of larger corporations whose major source of revenue was the foodservice industry. The study was nationwide with 18 national, 32 regional, and 15 local foodservice companies participating. The data was collected from fiscal year 1982 through fiscal year 1986 from both private and public sources. Strategy and environmental scanning were found to have substantial influence on both Return on Sales and Return on Assets. High performing firms in both differentiation and low cost strategies were found to engage in significantly greater amounts of environmental scanning than low performing firms in those two strategic groups. Focus strategy underperformed all other strategic groups in all performance measures. / Ph. D.

Omnivorousness, authenticity, and exoticness are frequently discussed topics in food studies. Scholars have engaged with these concepts in consumerism and foodways. However, there is an existing research gap in the perspectives of restaurants on how they interpret these concepts and negotiate them in their daily operations. Using Shanghai as a case study, I examine how restaurant operators in Shanghai understand gastronomic omnivorousness, authenticity, and exoticness and how they employ them in operations to align with consumers’ desires. Do they admit the existence and importance of these concepts, and how do they interpret them? Do they take action on these ideas based on their understanding? If so, how do they employ omnivorousness, authenticity, and exoticness in restaurant operations? Do they construct their restaurants’ culinary identities, and how? I used semi-structured interviews with restaurant operators in Shanghai to investigate how they interpret omnivorousness, authenticity, and exoticness and employ these concepts in operations. The findings reveal that authenticity and exoticness are socially constructed culinary identities, and uniqueness and distinction are the true causes supporting the credibility and popularity of a restaurant. In addition, the study points out another form of omnivorousness in Shanghai, which has not been shown in previous studies. Finally, this research also shows that some factors in operations are not concerned by restaurant operators to build culinary identities, including ingredients, staff, service, and advertising.

There is an increased emphasis in management literature on the use of strategic management as the primary means of adapting organizations to their changing environments. For firms in the maturing hospitality industry to survive and succeed, they will have to depend upon their ability to strategically align themselves with the turbulent environment, and select appropriate strategies to create defendable competitive positions. Success in strategy implementation depends partly on whether a firm's strategy is congruent and complementary with its structure, and this match is expected to have a positive impact on financial performance. With that in mind, a study was carried out in 1987. The objectives of the study were: 1) to examine restaurant firms based on the context of Porter's strategic typologies at the business unit level to see if they espouse one of his three generic strategies: overall cost leadership, differentiation, and focus; 2) to examine the relationship between structural attributes and generic strategy in restaurant firms, these attributes were specialization, formalization, and centralization; 3) to examine the relationship between strategy, structure, and financial performance of restaurant firms. Three performance measures were used: return on assets, return on sales, and growth in unit sales. Following a pilot-test phase, the top management team in 296 American multi-unit restaurant firms were surveyed, using a structured questionnaire. Ninety-one firms participated in the survey, giving a 30.7% response rate. The sample was well represented by all major segments in the restaurant industry. Based on the purposes and research questions, three sets of hypotheses were derived to determine the relationship of strategy and structure in restaurant firms, the relationship of strategy and performance, and the differences in structure among the high performers and low performers in each of the strategy groups. T-tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical analyses were conducted to examine these relationships. The level of significance, alpha value, was set at 0.05. Results indicated that strategy was not related to structure in restaurant firms, and that it only affected one of the performance measures, return on sales. It was found that certain performance measures were related to structure for companies espoused in low cost and focus strategy, but not to differentiation strategy. These findings were inconclusive in validating Porter's model. Some of the probable reasons are: 1) Porter's generic strategies may not be applicable for the service industry due to the existence of the fundamental differences in manufacturing and service, 2) the unique characteristics of the restaurant business and the relatively short life cycle of an innovative product or service. / Ph. D.