The UK Netball Superleague: A case study of franchising in elite women's sport organisations

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in European Sport Management Quarterly, 12(5), 545 - 567, 2012, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/16184742.2012.734525.This paper draws on theories of franchising in examining the emergence of the UK Netball Superleague (UK NSL) in 2005. The focus of the paper is to explore the development of an empowered franchise framework as part of England Netball's elite performance strategy and the consequences of the Superleague for player performance, team success and commercial potential of the franchises. Twenty-two in-depth interviews conducted between 2008 and 2011 with franchise and sport media/marketing personnel inform the discussion. The paper explains the UK NSL as an empowered franchise model characterised by a shift from the centralised hierarchical model of the business format franchise to one which is decentralised and informal and whereby different franchises are characterised by high degrees of diversity in terms of organisational environment and their own structural characteristics of specialisation and standardisation.The Centre for Sport, Physical Education and Activity Research (SPEAR) at Canterbury Christ Church University

How does the franchisor’s choice of different control mechanisms affect franchisees’ and employee-managers’ satisfaction?

Satisfaction of franchisees and employee-managers affects the overall performance of a franchise system. We argue that different actors in the same franchise system need to be treated in different ways. The franchisor’s choice of control mechanisms affects the satisfaction of franchisees and employee-managers differently. Drawing on data from the largest German franchise system, we show that the effectiveness of different control mechanisms depends on actor type and experience. Outcome control leads to higher satisfaction among franchisees and employee-managers, while behavior control enhances employee-managers’ satisfaction. Thereby, outcome control leads to higher satisfaction among more experienced franchisees, while behavior control enhances both highly and lowly experienced employee-managers’ satisfaction. Our results suggest that franchisors face a dilemma: On the one hand, behavior control is associated with high costs and has no impact on franchisees’ satisfaction at all. On the other hand, it might still be necessary to prevent franchisees from behaving opportunistically

How does the franchisor’s choice of different control mechanisms affect franchisees’ and employee-managers’ satisfaction?

Satisfaction of franchisees and employee-managers affects the overall performance of a franchise system. We argue that different actors in the same franchise system need to be treated in different ways. The franchisor’s choice of control mechanisms affects the satisfaction of franchisees and employee-managers differently. Drawing on data from the largest German franchise system, we show that the effectiveness of different control mechanisms depends on actor type and experience. Outcome control leads to higher satisfaction among franchisees and employee-managers, while behavior control enhances employee-managers’ satisfaction. Thereby, outcome control leads to higher satisfaction among more experienced franchisees, while behavior control enhances both highly and lowly experienced employee-managers’ satisfaction. Our results suggest that franchisors face a dilemma: On the one hand, behavior control is associated with high costs and has no impact on franchisees’ satisfaction at all. On the other hand, it might still be necessary to prevent franchisees from behaving opportunistically

An overview of franchising in the hospitality industry of Turkey

Tourism is regarded as one of the fastest growing industries of our time. International hotel chains seem to contribute this development to a great amount. These hotels invest in Turkey since 1950s. Recently, these investments seem to be made majorly as franchises. Today, franchising seems to be one of the major strategies to enter global markets. And the system is popular because of its organisational and financial advantages. Although Franchising is adopted and frequently used in tourism industry, there are not (if any) any studies investigating facts and figures of the subject. In this regard, herein it is aimed to overview the current state of franchising in the Turkish tourism industry. Therefore, international hotel chains operating through Franchising in the hospitality industry of Turkey are reviewed in this study. Findings of the study suggest that international hotel chains aiming to expand in the market of Turkey prefer franchising as the major growth strategy to any other

Proposing new variables for the identification of strategic groups in franchising

The identification of strategic groups in the Spanish franchising area is the main aim of this study. The authors have added some new strategic variables (not used before) to the study and have classified franchisors between sectors and distribution strategy. The results reveal the existence of four perfectly differentiated strategic groups (types of franchisors). One of the major implications of this study is that the variables that build a strategic group vary depending on the respective sector the network operates in and its distribution strategy. This fact indicates that including sector and distribution strategy is absolutely necessary to achieve good classifications of franchisor type

Franchising: A literature review on management and control issues.

Franchising; Literature review; Management control;

Determinants of E-commerce adoption by franchisors: Insights from the U.S. market

E-commerce has grown tremendously over the past decade. This paper focuses on E-commerce adoption within the franchising sector. We formulate various hypotheses on the factors that influence the adoption of an E-commerce strategy by franchisors, namely the percentage of company-owned stores in the network, network size and age, franchisor resources (franchising fees and franchising royalties), and the allocation of exclusive territories to franchisees. The empirical study relies on a sample of 486 franchise networks in the U.S. market. Our findings suggest that the percentage of company-owned stores and the brand image, as represented by network size, both exert a significant and positive impact on the adoption of an E-commerce strategy, whereas network age and franchising royalties exert a significant and negative impact on the adoption of such a strategy. These findings are discussed with respect to previous research results.E-commerce, franchising, determinants, plural form, brand image, franchisors' resources

Optimizing Franchisee Sales and Business Performance in Retail Food Sector

This paper aims at identifying attributes of players in franchising process that contribute in delivering satisfaction in purchasing and operating the outlets in Mexico. The discussion also focuses the impact of cultural diversities in franchisee selection, outlet management and achieving high performance. Franchisee relationship has been evaluated in reference to principal determinants attributing to the enhancement of satisfaction and strengthening franchisor-franchisee ties. It has been observed in the study that performance of franchisee outlets is a function of outlet attraction, supply and manufacturing management, quality, price, and promotional strategies as functional factors. Besides, relational variables including personalized customer services, leisure support and customer convenience also influence the performance of outlets.Franchising, performance measurement, market demand, sales management, retailing, store organization, pricing, promotional strategies, customer value and business growth

Franchising Model for Expansion of the International Travel Business

The hotel sector of the travel industry is the leader according to the indicator of economic growth, which is observed in both developed and developing countries. Even under the economic instability and global natural disasters, the industry has seen growth in recent years. The franchising model for expanding activities is central to all successful hotel chains. The article deals with the franchising model for the travel business expansion and the economic performance of hotel chains such as Marriott International, Wyndham Hotels, and Hilton. They hold a prominent place in the global hotel business, have a steady tendency to expand their business, hold high positions in the ranking of the best franchises in the world and have been recognized by experts. The main risks for the franchisor and franchisee are determined when making a decision on the expansion of the international travel business, which must be taken into account when developing new markets for hotel chains. The main advantages of the franchising model of expansion, which promote understanding between the parties of the franchise agreement, dynamicize hotel chains expansion and allow for reducing their expenses and increasing incomes. It was found that the growth of net profit and total income in the indicated hotel chains was due to the increase in the number of rooms in franchising and the positive dynamics of franchise income. A more dynamic pace occurred after the crisis growth in revenues from the franchisee compared with the managerial model. A closer relationship between revenues and key financial indicators has been proved when using a franchising model

Antecedents of acceptance of social networking sites in retail franchise and restaurant businesses

The paper examines the antecedents of acceptance of social networking sites in retail franchise and restaurant businesses. The success of retail franchise and restaurant business oper-ators via social networking sites depends not only on organiza-tional benefits but also on their behavioral intentions of using it. Three hundred and twenty four samples collected from South Korean retail franchise and restaurant employees are analyzed using factor analysis, structural equation model techniques and one-way analysis of variance. The results of the study identify the three constructs of organizational benefits, perceived tangible assets and perceived intangible assets as for important ante-cedents to accept social networking sites for their business use. Moreover, higher position employees tend to have more favor-able perception of tangible assets and acceptance of social net-working sites for their business use