• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.23-32
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• 2010

This study attempted to investigate the impact of relational characteristics just like level of perceived communication, support, conflict and justice between optical franchisor and franchisees on relational performance. Data collected from A Optical Franchisees supported two hypotheses such as communication and relational satisfaction, relational satisfaction and long-term commitment that were proposed. Another result between justice and relational satisfaction in this study shows that the other research and interpretation for this phenomenon was attempted. In accordance with the results, the following conclusion was made: it is very important to communicate with franchisor, and the core mean for that would be the enhancement of the long-term commitment of franchisees through the perceived relational satisfaction of franchisee's in optical franchise system. To accomplish this, to understand characteristics of franchisor and franchisees and fit of their characteristics should be preceded.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.51-58
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• 2013

Purpose - Nowadays, more than ever before, fierce competition, deep market segmentation, short product life cycles, and intensifying customer needs are putting increasing pressure on franchise's organizations to satisfy their customers by creating market-oriented relationships with and enhancing their market knowledge of them. One way that this might be achieved is by establishing deep ties (i.e., job commitment and job satisfaction) with their employees. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine how two important constructs of franchises' strategic efforts, LO (learning orientation) and RMO (relationship marketing orientation), affect job satisfaction, given the mediating role of job commitment. A franchise system comprises a set of contractual arrangements by which mutual obligations are performed. An organizational learning goal motivates employees to improve their abilities and master the tasks they perform. Relationship marketing, in addition, is to identify, establish, maintain, and enhance relationships with customers and other stakeholders to ensure that the objectives of all parties are met and this is done through the mutual exchange of promises. In a relationship marketing orientation, then, a firm creates, maintains, and enhances a strong relationship with its customers by sustaining long-term ties. This study was designed to examine the evolution of various theoretical approaches to franchise systems in order to determine whether theories about firms have significantly affected the franchise system. To this end, the authors developed a structural model consisting of several constructs. Previous studies have suggested that franchises' learning and relationship marketing orientations are important occupational immersion dimensions driving job satisfaction. Research design, data, methodology - We empirically tested a process of how the learning orientation and the relationship marketing orientation influence job commitment and job satisfaction using survey data drawn from 150 responding franchisees who were interviewed about their individual tendencies. Results - The results of this study provide empirical evidence that learning orientation, relationship marketing orientation, and job commitment all influence franchisees' job satisfaction. The results of this study indicate that, first, learning orientation had a significant effect on job satisfaction; second, relationship marketing orientation was positively related to job commitment; third, job commitment had a significant effect on job satisfaction. We also found that relationship marketing orientation and job satisfaction were mediated by job commitment. Conclusions - The findings of this study confirm the importance of learning orientation and relationship marketing orientation in maintaining a positive marketing relationship between franchiser and franchisee from to the perspective of the market. This indicates that franchiser support such as educational programs provided by the franchiser will help franchisees attain higher business management achievement and satisfaction. Moreover, a positive relationship between franchisees and consumers can be maintained through tie effects. Our findings also suggest that learning orientation plays a critical role in job satisfaction within the franchise system.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.51-66
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• 2015

As competition for better service between corporations is getting fierce, many efforts to improve service quality are being made endlessly. The quality of service is directly associated with customer satisfaction and the employee performance of emotional labor is a key factor to attain a high level of customer review and better corporation image. This study examines an influence of emotional labor on job stress and customer orientation in the context of a service franchise firm. The results are as follow. First, deep acting of emotional labor has a negative influence on job stress, and surface acting of emotional labor has a negative influence on customer orientation. Also, job stress has a negative influence on customer orientation. Second, deep acting of emotional labor does not have a positive influence on customer orientation. Third, surface acting of emotional labor does not have a positive influence on job stress. The findings of this study show that deep acting of service based on an employee emotion can produce the employee's better service attitude by decreasing employees' job stress, but standardized surface acting of service cannot. Therefore, franchisor needs to use employees' deep acting to improve the franchisee service quality.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.1-25
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• 2012

The studies of franchise companies are underway with the development of the franchise industry. Franchisor performance, franchisee performance, and relationship characteristics on performance, financial performance, non-financial performance, including research on the topic or purpose of the franchise performance and related discussions from a variety of perspectives have been proposed. Presented so comprehensive a discussion regarding the existing performance of the franchise and qualitative aspects such as satisfaction, long-term orientation to emphasize the limits. Therefore, this study was conducted by the franchise company's performance than the need to be clearly presented. Propose a quantifiable and quantified to reflect the characteristics of the franchise quantitative performance indicators. Franchise contract management systematically analyze the status of the enterprise contract management(ECM) and proposed contract management, leverage as an indicator for a more quantitative analysis. Contract management leverage is the franchise as an indicator of the merchant and the growth of the contract showing any significant changes in the coming changes in the Franchisee's sales growth target analysis results, notable implications could be found. This study are new methodology for the practical dimensions of performance of franchise companies.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.81-101
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• 2012

A franchise system develops competitive products for a franchise store through the system established by the franchise head office. Therefore, it has advantages of expanding the marketing effect since the risk of failure is reduced for a founder and the franchise head office supports the overall sales, advertisement and promotional activities. Also, a franchise store has advantages of fulfilling necessary facilities and tools on advantageous terms, reducing expenses by purchasing in bulk, and getting a supply of products with stable qualities. However, aside from such advantages, franchise head offices are forcing franchise stores to make unnecessary investments in equipments and remodel the interior. Also, franchise business operators are being made to share the cost of marketing and multiple franchise stores are being approved within the same business district, and franchise business operators are suffering damages. Therefore, cases of shutting down a franchise store or not renewing the contract are frequent. From the position of a franchise head office, profits that are generated from franchise fees, interior remodeling fees and supplying facilities and materials will increase as the number of new franchise stores increases. However, franchise stores are faced with difficulties due to excessive competitions between similar types of businesses and the overlapping of business districts that come from increases in the number of stores, and they eventually end up shutting down. Therefore, in order for a franchise business operator and franchise head office to grow and develop continuously, opening new stores is important, but successfully renewing the contract by maintaining a relationship with an existing franchise business operator is desirable. In this aspect, a study that examines the elements that can affect the relationship between a franchise business operator and franchise head office is believed to be important for the development of the franchise industry and creating safe jobs for the public. With an emphasis on the relationship between a franchise head office and franchise store, this study attempted to examine the effect of characteristics of a franchise head office and franchise business operator on the bilateral relationship such as the faith and immersion, and wished to review the effects of such faith and immersion on the satisfaction of a franchise store, including an intention of renewing the contract. In particular, in the current situation of great uncertainties in the market, this study also wished to examine how uncertain market elements will affect the relationship between the characteristics of a franchise head office and franchise business operator, and the faith and immersion. The study revealed that among the characteristics of a franchise head office, the standardization management of a franchise head office hinders a franchise store's faith and immersion in a franchise head office. Also, a franchise head office's support was shown to increase a franchise store's faith and immersion. However, it was revealed that a franchise head office's regulation and incentive policies for a franchise store do not affect a franchise store's faith and immersion. Among characteristics of a franchise business operator, a franchise store's healthy financial status and entrepreneur spirits were shown to enhance the faith and immersion in a franchise head office. However, it was shown that excellent business abilities of a franchise business operator actually reduce the immersion for a franchise head office. Also, the faith and immersion in a franchise head office were shown to enhance the intention of renewing the contract by increasing the satisfaction for a franchise head office. In addition, it was originally believed that the effects of a franchise business operator's characteristics on the faith and immersion in a franchise head office will vary depending on the market uncertainty, but the effect of a franchise business operator's characteristics depending on the recognition of uncertainties was shown to be insignificant. Such findings show that instead of making a franchise store pay for equipment investments and marketing and obtaining profits by force, a franchise head office should actively support a franchise store so that a franchise store's business activities can be conducted well, which will bring profits to a franchise store and ultimately to a franchise head office. This is a more desirable direction for the development of both parties. Implications of such findings are summarized as follows. First, it was shown that a franchise head office's standardization management actually reduces a franchise store's faith and immersion. Therefore, it is believed that instead of conducting standardization managements for regulating and managing franchise stores, measures should be developed so that franchise stores can actually participate voluntarily. For this, a head office should put in efforts to develop and provide standardized manuals, and make sure that a self-review system takes root. Second, a franchise head office's incentives did not have significant effects on the faith and immersion, but the support was shown to be effective. Therefore, it can be seen that instead of taking post-measures for a franchise store, taking pre-measures of actively supporting is more effective in maintaining a franchise store. Third, among characteristics of a franchise head office, it was shown that a franchise store's healthy financial status increased the faith and immersion in a franchise head office. Therefore, when selecting a franchise business operator, instead of thoughtlessly opening up franchise stores for the profit of a head office, it is believed that reviewing a franchise business operator's financial firepower and credit status is necessary. As for academic implications, previous studies examined the relationship by focusing on the characteristics of a franchise head office and franchise store, but this study focused on the characteristics of a franchise business operator. Therefore, this study dealt with the importance of a franchise business operator's competence, and is significant because it revealed the fact that a franchise business operator's excellent commercialization ability can become an element that hinders the immersion in a franchise head office. It was originally believed that a franchise store's characteristics will have different effects on the faith and immersion depending on the market uncertainty, but it was shown that the effect of a franchise store's characteristics depending on the recognition of uncertainties was insignificant, and that is the limitation of this study.