Drivers of franchisor growth: a meta-analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Kang ◽  
Anthony K. Asare ◽  
Thomas Brashear-Alejandro ◽  
Ping Li

Purpose This study aims to help resolve some of the inconsistencies of the relationships between franchisor growth and its drivers in prior literature. Design/methodology/approach First, this study provides a meta-analysis with bivariate correlation analysis and moderation analysis. It then offers an additional analysis of secondary data to shed further light on the relationship between franchisor growth and its drivers. Findings This study confirms the diverse nature of the relationship between the various measures of growth and drivers. It finds that proportion of outlets franchised and brand reputation have the strongest relationships with geographic dispersion; age and proportion of outlets franchised have the strongest relationships with outlet growth rate; and size has the strongest relationship with the number of new outlets. In addition, these multiple relationships are moderated by all three research characteristics that this study investigates, including data source, time frame and industry context. Research limitations/implications This meta-analysis merely offers an examination of the most commonly studied drivers and not a complete review of all potentially important variables. It calls for further research that examines the factors that lead to franchisor growth and performance in general. Practical implications Managers of young franchisors do not need to rush to expand their business across a wide range of geographic regions. Young franchisors instead should focus initially on gaining maturity, developing their business concept, building an attractive track record and improving their brand reputation. Beyond a strong brand and well-developed business concept, franchisors can attract potential franchisees by reassuring them and making them feel secure about their investment. Originality/value This study includes a bivariate analysis that was used to conduct a meta-analysis and also an empirical analysis of secondary data. By conducting the secondary data analysis, we were able to examine the extent to which the meta-analysis results of this study could be extended beyond the time period for papers included in the meta-analysis.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilberto Santos ◽  
Federica Murmura ◽  
Laura Bravi

PurposeThis paper aims to present a model developed by an Italian company, Gamma, that produces technologically high-precision components, with the objectives of defining a model of vendor rating to improve companies’ management and quality within the supply chain.Design/methodology/approachThe research has been developed through a qualitative approach, based on a longitudinal single case study. Two semi-structured interviews have been carried out with the company’s Quality Manager in September 23 and October 31, 2016. Relevant secondary data were also used, such as company reports and their website.FindingsOwing to the implementation of the Gamma model, the company is committed to the prudent selection of its partners and in establishing lasting relationships of mutual benefit with them. The termination of the relationship with suppliers is therefore rare; monitoring periods and improvement of suppliers are preferred. The Gamma model and its suppliers jointly undertake corrective actions that have to be implemented within a defined time frame.Practical implicationsEstablishing criteria for an objective evaluation of suppliers could be directly or indirectly related to the quality of the final product, and greatly affects the same. This model has been effective for the identification of less performing suppliers that have to be subjected to improvement and audit plans.Originality/valueThis model allows the assignment of penalties or rewards, identifies which suppliers to direct audits and improvement plans, with which to end the relationship and with which to establish a relationship of integration and direct involvement.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-129
Author(s):  
Binh Thi Thanh Dao ◽  
Tram Dieu Ngoc Ta

PurposeThe paper aims at providing insights on the relationship between capital structure and performance of the firm by employing meta-analytical approach to obtain a synthesized result out of controversial studies as well as the sources for such inconsistency.Design/methodology/approachUsing secondary data, the analysis is divided into two main parts with concerns to the overall strength of the relationship, the effect size and the potential paper-specific characteristics influencing the magnitude of impacts between leverage and firm performance (moderators of the relationship). Overall, a total number of 32 journals, reviews and school presses were selected besides online libraries and publishing platforms. There were 50 papers with 340 studies chosen from 2004 to 2019, of which data range from 1998 to 2017.FindingsUsing Hedges et al. (1985,1988), descriptive and quantitative analysis have been conducted to confirm that corporate performance is negatively related to capital decisions, which inclines toward trade-off model with agency costs and pecking order theory. The estimation induces rather small effect size that implies sufficiently large sample size to be effectively investigated. In terms of moderator analysis, random-effects meta-regression models of three different techniques are used to increase the robustness in research findings, showing statistically significant elements as publication status, factor of industry and proxy of firm performance.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the first papers presenting meta-analysis in capital structure and performance for two languages, Vietnamese and English, providing a consistent result with previous worldwide papers.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Ryberg Bradley ◽  
Dana A. Forgione ◽  
Joel E. Michalek

PurposeThe authors examine whether reports of internal control weaknesses (ICWs) under federal single audit (FSA) guidelines are a useful tool for evaluating non-profit (NP) management, using a unique nationwide sample of NP charter schools. While prior research focuses on external stakeholder reactions to reported ICWs, little if any research addresses the utility of these reports for internal users. The authors fill this gap in the literature, finding evidence suggesting that NP charter school decision-makers use internal control (IC) reports when setting executive compensation – awarding lower pay increases when deficiencies are reported.Design/methodology/approachThe authors regress executive compensation changes on reported ICWs and likely determinants of NP compensation, including organization size, growth, liquidity and management performance, using a sample of 173 school/year observations representing 113 unique schools for the years 2012–2015.FindingsThe authors find a negative relationship with executive pay increases subsequent to reports of initial and repeated IC deficiencies, indicating that lower than average pay increases are awarded subsequent to reports of ICWs.Research limitations/implicationsInterpretation of the authors' results is subject to several limitations, including the possibility of omitted variable bias and the authors' sample, though it comprises all available data for the sample period, and is relatively small and may be considered exploratory in nature. Further, charter schools represent a unique public/private partnership in the educational sector, and the results may not be generalizable to other NPs. Future research could explore the relationship between reported IC deficiencies and governance in other, broader NP sectors.Practical implicationsThe authors' findings are useful to NP organization boards of directors as they consider what factors to evaluate in their chief executive officer (CEO) compensation decisions. In addition to other criteria, inclusion of IC effectiveness in the CEO reward system is prudent, especially in today's environment of increasingly important information security and IC matters. The results suggest such information is being included. This previously undocumented use is also of particular value to regulators when weighing the costs and benefits of mandating single audits for smaller NPs, who are otherwise unlikely to obtain information on the organization's IC environment.Social implicationsThese findings may help inform the debate regarding NP charter schools, a fast-growing, economically significant and highly controversial sector in public education. Charters are predominantly funded by state and local taxes. As such, the quality of governance in NP charter schools is of interest to a wide range of stakeholders including parents, regulators and the public at large.Originality/valueWhile prior research on ICWs and NPs focuses on external stakeholder reactions to reported ICWs, little if any research addresses the utility of these reports for internal users, especially in relatively smaller organizations. The research leverages the existence of charter schools, which are independent but present nationwide, providing a suitable sample of like organizations. Further, no extant research to the authors' knowledge examines the relationship of NP executive compensation and reported ICWs – a topic previously addressed in the for-profit (FP) literature.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Germán Frank ◽  
Guilherme Brittes Benitez ◽  
Mateus Ferreira Lima ◽  
João Augusto Bonzanini Bernardi

PurposeOpen innovation breadth (OIB) considers the diversity of external collaboration partners for innovation. The authors investigate the moderating effect of OIB on the relationship between industrial innovation activities (innovation inputs) and industrial innovation results (innovation outputs).Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on secondary data from the Brazilian innovation survey, representing more than 30,000 innovative companies across 55 industrial sectors.FindingsThis study’s results show that OIB has different moderating effects regarding the several innovation input–output relationships. While OIB benefits some relationships, others are hampered by the diversity of collaboration partners.Originality/valueFew studies have addressed OIB at the macro level. Using the perspective of transaction cost economics (TCE), the authors discuss the contributions and limitations of OIB at the industry level.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariane Lemos Lourenço ◽  
Mara Rosalia Ribeiro Silva ◽  
Rafael Santana Galvão Oliveira

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between empathy and social responsibility (SR) practices in a university organization in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Design/methodology/approach The research was qualitative, using case study methodology. The case study was about the Brazilian organization Ânima Educação, which is the greatest among the five largest publicly traded education companies in Brazil. Secondary data collection and content analysis was carried out. Findings As emotional response toward the problems caused by the pandemic, the company's leadership adopted an empathic behavior, allowing traces of its empathic culture to emerge. Empathy was expressed through the implementation of SR practices aimed at workers (policy of not firing in the first two months of the pandemic), at students (provision of technological apparatus, online classes, physical/psychological assistance and negotiation of late fees) and at the society (assistance to the elderly). Originality/value It was concluded that empathy can be taken as the emotional motivator for companies to engage in SR practices, especially in extreme circumstances in society, as the economic and health challenges that the world is experiencing with the COVID-19 pandemic nowadays. SR practices, in turn, can foster even more empathy in organizations, mobilizing leaders and their respective groups in the creation and implementation of new practices, thus demonstrating that the relationship between empathy and SR practices is a “two-way street.”


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Augusto Dalmoro Costa ◽  
Aurora Carneiro Zen ◽  
Everson dos Santos Spindler

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between family succession, professionalization and internationalization in family businesses within the Brazilian context.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a multiple-case study method with three Brazilian family businesses that have at least two generations of the owning family involved in the business and an international presence of at least three years. In-depth interviews and secondary data were undertaken with family and non-family members of each case.FindingsThe authors' results show that a family business can boost its internationalization by introducing both succession planning and professionalization on international activities. As family members tend to be more risk-averse and focused on keeping the family business within the family, professionalization is a way of improving the firm's ability to expand internationally. This process tends to lead to lower performance by the firm for the first few months or the first year after the investment, but afterward, international performance tends to grow exponentially.Originality/valueOnly a few studies have been concerned on the relationship of these three dimensions. Thus, the research takes into account that professionalization and succession lead family businesses to improve their internationalization strategies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giri Aryal ◽  
John Mann ◽  
Scott Loveridge ◽  
Satish Joshi

Purpose The innovation creation literature primarily focuses on urban firms/regions or relies heavily on these data; less studied are rural firms and areas in this regard. The purpose of this paper is to employ a new firm-level data set, national in scale, and analyze characteristics that potentially influence innovation creation across rural and urban firms. Design/methodology/approach The authors use the 2014 National Survey of Business Competitiveness (NSBC) covering multiple firm-level variables related to innovation creation combined with secondary data reflecting the regional business and innovative environments where these firms operate. The number of patent applications filed by these firms measures their innovation creation, and the paper employs a negative binomial regression estimation for analysis. Findings After controlling for industry, county and state factors, rural and urban firms differ in their innovation creation characteristics and behaviors, suggesting that urban firms capitalize on their resources better than rural firms. Other major findings of the paper provide evidence that: first, for rural firms, the influence of university R&D is relevant to innovation creation, but their perception of university-provided information is not significant; and second, rural firms that are willing to try, but fail, in terms of innovation creation have a slight advantage over other rural firms less willing to take on the risk. Originality/value This paper is one of the first to analyze the 2014 NSBC, a firm-level national survey covering a wide range of innovation-related variables. The authors combine it with other regional secondary data, and use appropriate analytical modeling to provide empirical evidence of influencing factors on innovation creation across rural and urban firms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 971-995
Author(s):  
Yiyi Fan ◽  
Mark Stevenson ◽  
Fang Li

PurposeThe aim of the study is to explore how two dimensions of interpersonal relationships (i.e. size and range of relationships) affect supplier-initiating risk management behaviours (SIRMB) and supply-side resilience. Further, the study aims to explore the moderating role of dependence asymmetry.Design/methodology/approachNine hypotheses are tested based on a moderated mediation analysis of survey data from 247 manufacturing firms in China. The data are validated using a subset of 57 attentive secondary respondents and archival data.FindingsSIRMB positively relates to supply-side resilience. Further, SIRMB mediates the positive relationship between range and supply-side resilience, and this relationship is stronger at lower levels of dependence asymmetry. Yet, although dependence asymmetry positively moderates the relationship between range and SIRMB, it negatively moderates the relationship between size and SIRMB. We did not, however, find evidence that size has a conditional indirect effect on supply-side resilience through SIRMB.Practical implicationsManagers in buying firms can incentivise SIRMB to enhance supply-side resilience by developing a diverse rather than a large set of interpersonal relationships with a supplier. This might include allocating particular employees with a wide range of contacts within a supplier to that relationship, while it may be necessary to adopt different networking strategies for different supplier relationships. Firms in a highly asymmetrical relationship may seek to raise supplier expectations about the necessity to initiate risk management behaviour or look to change the dynamic of the relationship by managing contracts for fairness.Originality/valueNew knowledge on SIRMB as a mediating variable underpinning the relationship between interpersonal relationships and supply-side resilience is provided; and empirical evidence on the opposing moderation effect of dependence asymmetry is presented.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satish Kumar ◽  
Sisira Colombage ◽  
Purnima Rao

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the status of studies on capital structure determinants in the past 40 years. This paper highlights the major gaps in the literature on determinants of capital structure and also aims to raise specific questions for future research. Design/methodology/approach The prominence of research is assessed by studying the year of publication and region, level of economic development, firm size, data collection methods, data analysis techniques and theoretical models of capital structure from the selected papers. The review is based on 167 papers published from 1972 to 2013 in various peer-reviewed journals. The relationship of determinants of capital structure is analyzed with the help of meta-analysis. Findings Major findings show an increase of interest in research on determinants of capital structure of the firms located in emerging markets. However, it is observed that these regions are still under-examined which provides more scope for research both empirical and survey-based studies. Majority of research studies are conducted on large-sized firms by using secondary data and regression-based models for the analysis, whereas studies on small-sized firms are very meager. As majority of the research papers are written only at the organizational level, the impact of leverage on various industries is yet to be examined. The review highlights the major determinants of capital structure and their relationship with leverage. It also reveals the dominance of pecking order theory in explaining capital structure of firms theoretically as well as statistically. Originality/value The paper covers a considerable period of time (1972-2013). Among very few review papers on capital structure research, to the best of authors’ knowledge; this is the first review to identify what is missing in the literature on the determinants of capital structure while offering recommendations for future studies. It also synthesize the findings of empirical studies on determinants of capital structure statistically.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugénia Pedro ◽  
João Leitão ◽  
Helena Alves

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the predominant classification of intellectual capital (IC), in terms of components, using the literature of reference on the relationship between IC and performance and considering multi-dimensional analysis axes (MAAs): organisational, regional and national. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review (SLR) is presented focussing on empirical studies on IC published in the period 1960-2016. A protocol for action is defined and a research question is raised, gathering data from the databases of: Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar. A social network analysis is also provided to determine the type of networks embracing groups, IC individual components and performance type. Findings Of the 777 papers included in the SLR, 189 deal with the relationship between IC and performance. The paper highlights the greater development of empirical studies starting from 2004; the organisational MAA is the most studied. The most frequently used groups of components in studies dealing with IC’s influence on performance corresponds to a triad of human capital; structural (organisational or process) capital; and relational (social or customer) capital, which determine positively the performance of organisations/regions/countries, but their influence is not linear and depends on various factors associated with the context and surrounding environment. Practical implications This study has wide-ranging implications for politicians/governments, managers and academics, providing empirical evidence about the relationships between the components of IC and performance, by MAAs, and a global vision and better understanding of how those IC components have developed and how they are related to performance. Originality/value Due to the high number of references covering a wide range of disciplines and the various dimensions (e.g. organisational, regional and national) that form IC, it becomes fundamental to carry out an SRL and systematise its MAAs to deepen knowledge about what has been discovered/developed in this domain, in terms of empirical studies, in order to situate the topic in a wider theoretical-practical context. The paper is exceptionally wide-ranging, covering the period 1960-2016. It is one of the first clarifying studies on systemisation of the literature on IC, by MAA, and an in-depth study of IC’s impact on the performance of organisations/regions and countries which may serve as a guideline for future studies using the taxonomy proposed.


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