Entrepreneurial opportunities and performance in franchising firms

For a field of social science to have usefulness, it must have a conceptual framework that explains and predicts a set of empirical phenomena not explained or predicted by conceptual frameworks already in existence in other fields (Shane 2000). This study explored entrepreneurial oppòrtunities within franchising. On the surface, franchising appears to create a system whose underpinnings are standardization, replication, and compliance with detailed long-term contracts--a seemigly unpromising environment in which to explore entrepreneurial opportunities. I argue that heterogeneity and organizational complexity exist among franchising firms, attributes overlooked in studies that characterized the phenomenon narrowly as a uniform, dyadic relationship between franchisors and franchisees. This study found that contractual provisions, franchisee obligations, and organizational hierarchies varied among franchises, and that a relationship existed between the presence of these attributes and differential performance among franchising firms. As a contractual relationship between distinct entities, franchising is governed by a variety of disclosure, trade, and intellectual property laws. Its contractual provisions and formal disclosure documents defme a formal context in which franchising is conducted. In addition to franchising's formal context, an operational realm also exists, one in which daily operations of franchised businesses take place. This study revealed that franchising's operational realm is not always contained within the defined limits of its formal agreements, suggesting greater franchisee discretion may exist than revealed in the agreement. As a result of organizational discontinuities in franchising's formal context, and franchisee discretion within its operational context, diverse opportunities for entrepreneurship exist within franchising beyond the birh of a franchisor's firm

Utilizing the Innovative Leadership Behavior Inventory and Relationship Marketing as Critical Elements for Teaching/Learning Entrepreneurial Leadership (EL)

The focus of this paper will be on utilizing the five-factor Leader Behavior Inventory (LBI) as the structure, and various teaching or learning pedagogy and related processes and relationships as the intervening variables in order to help entrepreneurs assess then enhance their potential leadership behavior. In turn, this should foster the decision process necessary to accomplish enterprise building or organizational development thus enhancing the cycle time for critical change. Should the LBI and associated assessment tools and processes indicate such, the best practice strategies may involve bringing in professional management, slowing the growth of the enterprise to allow for leadership development, or an appropriate exit strategy

Faculty experiences regarding a global partnership for anesthesia postgraduate training: a qualitative study

PURPOSE: Partnerships for postgraduate medical education between institutions in high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries are increasingly common models that can create capacity in human resources for health. Nevertheless, data are currently limited to guide the development of this kind of educational program. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured interviews with visiting and local faculty members in the externally supported University of Zambia Master of Medicine Anesthesia Program. Interviews were thematically analyzed with qualitative methodology. RESULTS: Respondents spoke of differences in clinical practice, including resource limitations, organizational issues, presentation and comorbidities of patients, surgical techniques, and cultural issues relating to communication and teamwork. A key theme was communication amongst distributed visiting faculty. Infrequent face-to-face meetings jeopardized programmatic learning and the consistency of teaching and assessment. Co-learning was considered central to the development of a new program, as visiting faculty had to adapt to local challenges while establishing themselves as visiting experts. An ongoing challenge for faculty was determining when to adapt to the local context to facilitate patient care and when to insist on familiar standards of practice in order to advocate for patient safety. CONCLUSIONS: As a new and evolving program, the findings from this study highlight challenges and opportunities for faculty as part of a partnership for postgraduate medical education. Since maintaining an effective faculty is essential to ensure the sustainability of any teaching program, this work may help other similar programs to anticipate and overcome potential challenge