• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.10 no.6
• /
• pp.39-53
• /
• 2012

It is widely known that knowledge management plays a facilitating role that contributes to upgrading organizational performance. Knowledge management systems (KMS), especially, support the knowledge management process including the sharing, creating, and using of knowledge within a company, and maximize the value of knowledge resources within an organization. Despite this widely held belief, there are few studies that describe how companies actually develop, share, and practice their knowledge. Companies in the domestic small franchise sector, which are in the early stages in terms of knowledge management, need to improve their KMS to manage their franchisees effectively. From this perspective, this study uses a qualitative approach to explore the actual process of knowledge management implementation. This article presents a case study of PB (Paris Baguette) company, which is the first to build a KMS in the franchise industry. The study was able to confirm the following facts through the analysis of target companies. First, the chief executive's support is a critical success factor and this support can increase the participation of organization members. Second, it is important to build a process and culture that actively creates and leverages information in knowledge management activities. The organizational learning culture should be one where the creation, learning, and sharing of new knowledge is developed continuously. Third, a horizontal network organization is needed in order to make relationships within the organization more close-knit. Fourth, in order to connect the diverse processes such as knowledge acquisition, storage, and utilization of knowledge management activities, information technology (IT) capabilities are essential. Indeed, IT can be a powerful tool for improving the quality of work and maximizing the spread and use of knowledge. However, during the construction of an intranet based KMS, research is required to ensure that the most efficient system is implemented. Finally, proper evaluation and compensation are important success factors. In order to develop knowledge workers, an appropriate program of promotion and compensation should be established. Also, building members' confidence in the benefits of knowledge management should be an ongoing activity. The company developed its original KMS to achieve a flexible and proactive organization, and a new KMS to improve organizational and personal capabilities. The PB case shows that there are differences between participants perceptions and actual performance in managing knowledge; that knowledge management is not a matter of formality but a paradigm that assures the sharing of knowledge; and that IT boosts communication skills, thus creating a mutual relationship to enhance the flow of knowledge and information between people. Knowledge management for building organizational capabilities can be successful when considering its focus and ways to increase its acceptance. This study suggests guidelines for major factors that corporate executives of domestic franchises should consider to improve knowledge management and the higher operating activities that can be used.

• Journal of Distribution Research
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.37-63
• /
• 2012

In franchise business, exclusive sales territory (sometimes EST in table) protection is a very important issue from an economic, social and political point of view. It affects the growth and survival of both franchisor and franchisee and often raises issues of social and political conflicts. When franchisee is not familiar with related laws and regulations, franchisor has high chance to utilize it. Exclusive sales territory protection by the manufacturer and distributors (wholesalers or retailers) means sales area restriction by which only certain distributors have right to sell products or services. The distributor, who has been granted exclusive sales territories, can protect its own territory, whereas he may be prohibited from entering in other regions. Even though exclusive sales territory is a quite critical problem in franchise business, there is not much rigorous research about the reason, results, evaluation, and future direction based on empirical data. This paper tries to address this problem not only from logical and nomological validity, but from empirical validation. While we purse an empirical analysis, we take into account the difficulties of real data collection and statistical analysis techniques. We use a set of disclosure document data collected by Korea Fair Trade Commission, instead of conventional survey method which is usually criticized for its measurement error. Existing theories about exclusive sales territory can be summarized into two groups as shown in the table below. The first one is about the effectiveness of exclusive sales territory from both franchisor and franchisee point of view. In fact, output of exclusive sales territory can be positive for franchisors but negative for franchisees. Also, it can be positive in terms of sales but negative in terms of profit. Therefore, variables and viewpoints should be set properly. The other one is about the motive or reason why exclusive sales territory is protected. The reasons can be classified into four groups - industry characteristics, franchise systems characteristics, capability to maintain exclusive sales territory, and strategic decision. Within four groups of reasons, there are more specific variables and theories as below. Based on these theories, we develop nine hypotheses which are briefly shown in the last table below with the results. In order to validate the hypothesis, data is collected from government (FTC) homepage which is open source. The sample consists of 1,896 franchisors and it contains about three year operation data, from 2006 to 2008. Within the samples, 627 have exclusive sales territory protection policy and the one with exclusive sales territory policy is not evenly distributed over 19 representative industries. Additional data are also collected from another government agency homepage, like Statistics Korea. Also, we combine data from various secondary sources to create meaningful variables as shown in the table below. All variables are dichotomized by mean or median split if they are not inherently dichotomized by its definition, since each hypothesis is composed by multiple variables and there is no solid statistical technique to incorporate all these conditions to test the hypotheses. This paper uses a simple chi-square test because hypotheses and theories are built upon quite specific conditions such as industry type, economic condition, company history and various strategic purposes. It is almost impossible to find all those samples to satisfy them and it can't be manipulated in experimental settings. However, more advanced statistical techniques are very good on clean data without exogenous variables, but not good with real complex data. The chi-square test is applied in a way that samples are grouped into four with two criteria, whether they use exclusive sales territory protection or not, and whether they satisfy conditions of each hypothesis. So the proportion of sample franchisors which satisfy conditions and protect exclusive sales territory, does significantly exceed the proportion of samples that satisfy condition and do not protect. In fact, chi-square test is equivalent with the Poisson regression which allows more flexible application. As results, only three hypotheses are accepted. When attitude toward the risk is high so loyalty fee is determined according to sales performance, EST protection makes poor results as expected. And when franchisor protects EST in order to recruit franchisee easily, EST protection makes better results. Also, when EST protection is to improve the efficiency of franchise system as a whole, it shows better performances. High efficiency is achieved as EST prohibits the free riding of franchisee who exploits other's marketing efforts, and it encourages proper investments and distributes franchisee into multiple regions evenly. Other hypotheses are not supported in the results of significance testing. Exclusive sales territory should be protected from proper motives and administered for mutual benefits. Legal restrictions driven by the government agency like FTC could be misused and cause mis-understandings. So there need more careful monitoring on real practices and more rigorous studies by both academicians and practitioners.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.57-69
• /
• 2013

This study analyzed the effects of the relational norm factor of food service franchising on the intention to remain, in view of the importance of relational norms, as antecedent variables, to franchisees' perceived fairness to enhance the competitiveness by formation of long-term relationship between interested parties to food service franchising, the franchiser and the franchisee. According to a questionnaire survey, more than 100 franchisees that recorded three business years in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi area were selected for convenience sampling. Then, among them, 515 effective samples were analyzed. For statistical data, detailed types of analysis were performed by using AMOS 17.0, such as factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory analysis and frequency analysis. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the franchiser and the franchisee by arranging relational norm factors for the relationship to be suitable for the current situation of Korea, instead of Western-style theory-based relationship marketing, and by understanding a connection between perceived fairness and management achievement-related variables, and to make a conceptual framework for building a positive relationship between the franchiser and the franchise in future food service franchising industry. Moreover, it aimed to increase franchisee satisfaction and results including re-contract according to perceived positive relationship value on the franchiser and to make contribution to find and show the proper direction for development of the Korean-style food service franchising system.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.153-169
• /
• 2008

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of production strategies operated by franchisors in the food service industry on the franchisees' culinary competence and subsequently franchisees' satisfaction with performance and recontract intention. In order to accomplish this purpose, two franchised enterprises which used mass-purchasing and mass-producing before distributing to each franchisee for the production strategies were participated and eventually 287 franchisees responded to this survey. Factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha showed the validity and internal consistency for the survey questionnaire. LISREL(8.72) was used to test the relationships between variables; production strategy, culinary competences, franchisee satisfaction, and recontract intention of the franchisees. The results present that the franchisees' satisfaction with the management system, quality of distribution, and quality of foods influenced on differentiation performance and supply performance of franchisees. On cost performance, only satisfaction with the food cost had an impact. The higher franchisee satisfaction with the franchisees' operations was, the higher recontract intention was in the franchise business. The results suggest the critical points for improving foodservice supplying system as well.

• East Asian Journal of Business Economics (EAJBE)
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.1-16
• /
• 2021

Purpose - This study aims to analyze 7-Eleven's specific competitive advantage strategy according to changes in the Japanese convenience store industry by selecting 7-Eleven, a leading company in the Japanese convenience store industry, as a representative case study. Research design, data, and methodology - Due to the current COVID-19 situation, fact-finding such as interviews with key managers through visiting surveys was not possible, so this case study was carried out based on the literature such as official and unofficial data collected from the companies through e-mail and articles that have been published outside. Result - As a result of the analysis, the researcher found that five competing strategy factors, such as dominant strategy, innovative logistics system strategy, information system development strategy, joint product development strategy, and direct communication strategy have closely maintained the mutual relation to form a combined strategy focusing on the franchise development strategy. Conclusion - The competitive advantage of 7-Eleven is thought to have secured its competitive advantage by combining the five competitive strategies complementarily for rapid response to change, cost advantage, and differentiated advantage. The management implications specified in this study can be considered a reference for establishing a competitive strategy for sustainable growth of the convenience store industry in the fierce competition and saturated market environment of Korean convenience stores.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.30 no.11 s.158
• /
• pp.1495-1506
• /
• 2006

The purposes of this study are to investigate the formation and the change of apparel retail structure historically with the viewpoint that the retail structure is affected by the process of economic development. This study was done by literature research method and the result of this study is the following. The tailor and seamstress shops, the first clothing shops in Korea, were replaced by ready-made shops, because mass production system which had developed with the industrialization of Korea increased the advantage of economy of scale compared to handicrafts individual one. After that, the production system of apparel industry had been efficient continuously, while retail system had not. The retailing of famous brand apparel conducted by exclusive franchise store caused supplier oriented markets where the opinion and the desire of consumers were not reflected. While the retailing of the unknown brand apparel handled by small retail stores were inefficient. As the apparel industry matured in 1990s, various types of new stores appeared such as specialty stores, discount stores, TV home shopping, internet shopping, outlet malls, and big fashion stores in Dongdeamoon. These new stores have features of seeking profits in mass merchandising. As these large retail stores grow, the apparel retail structure of Korea is changing from a fragmented market to a vertically integrated one. This change is shown by the decrease of stores per inhabitants. With the change of environment, the apparel retail system which has lagged behind comparatively is expected to develop into more efficient system based on the large capital investment which raise the advantage of economy of scale.

• Journal of Distribution Research
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.31-66
• /
• 2009

This study investigates the effects of supervisors' leadership style on franchisees' trust and commitment in a franchise system. We classified leadership into two styles - transformational leadership vs. transactional leadership, and it was hypothesized and tested that these two leadership styles have differential effects on trust and two different types of commitment - calculative commitment vs. affective commitment. A questionnaire survey was conducted to collect the data and a total number of 184 Korean franchisees in diverse industries participated to the survey. Using a structural equation modeling, we confirmed some differential effects of the two leadership styles. Transformational leadership was found to have positive effects on franchisees' trust in and affective commitment to the franchisor, while it has no effects on calculative commitment. On the other hand, transactional leadership was positively related to calculative commitment to the franchisor. But it had no effects on trust and affective commitment. Meanwhile, we also found that trust positively affects on both types of commitment. The results of this study suggest that the quality of franchisor-franchisee relationships can be improved by supervisor's strong leadership, especially by transformational leadership, and that transformational leadership, when compared to transactional leadership, is more important for developing a long-term and stable franchisor-franchisee relationship.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.46-60
• /
• 2011

Under the crisis of global economy, a creation of employment became an important economic issue in Korea. Recently, the structure of Korea economy has been shifted to technology intensive industry. So, Korea economy has been placed on growth without job. Food service industry to overcome this situation has begun to receive attention as a good alternative. Therefore, this study analyzed the effect of the food service industry up on the national employment in Korea using input-output table. Food service industry has a high influence on related industries that are within a food system in respect to job creation. These results show that it is important to provide support policies by government to develop a food service industry.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.70-83
• /
• 2011

The number of agricultural products due to open in response to international competitiveness of the farming press and the need for structural adjustment in agriculture and in agricultural crops receive a fair market price, fair trade, such as improving efficiency sidaejeo appropriate response to the request of the government must have. For this purpose, compared to the communist bojaphan agricultural water efficiently changing the structure of the distribution, agricultural products originating from the acquisition phase choice of shipping a stable product supply and plans to expand production system to induce a smooth supply of agricultural products, expand processing capacity and sales control should be. Also, in the distribution process by eliminating various immoral conduct commerce retail establishment and enforcement of policies for efficient and accurate distribution statistics, information is needed. The ultimate goal of agricultural restructuring and ensure fair price for producers sangpuui and improvement of production facilities for maximizing and affordable for consumers, according to your preferences to receive the best offer will be Foo. Therefore, management increases the efficiency of just distribution costs, or margins, lowering the improvement is not practical to restructure the distribution structure of costs for the best product and must supply the next country of agricultural products, strengthen the consumer's purchase desire to meet will be.

• Journal of Distribution Research
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.85-114
• /
• 1996

The franchise system has become more widely adopted by Korean distribution industries than before as foreign direct investment is liberalized in these industries. However, a number of problems has arisen between franchisers and franchisees recently. In this regard, the objective of this study is to identify problems arisen between franchisers and franchisees of convenience store operation. More specifically, this paper investigates how credibility between two parties is affected by the internal political structures, including bureaucratic structure and relational norms, and impact strategies of franchisers. The results of this study can be summarized as follows : Under rapidly changing channel environment, credibility between franchisers and franchisees tend to be characterized as the bureaucratic structure rather than relational norms. This result suggests that franchisees are more likely to recognize the power of franchisers in Korean convenience stores. This paper also shows that the adoption of coercive impact strategies decreases credibility and vice versa. The results of this paper suggest following implications. In order to have mutually beneficial relationship franchisers and franchisees have to share benefits and costs incurred by their convenience store operation, and to raise their ability to revise contract terms to accommodate changes in external environments. It is also important for the development of convenience store operation to construct more efficient relationship between franchisers and franchisees by adopting supportive norms rather than opportunistic ones.