• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.33-47
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• 2018

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to derive the performance improvement factors of courier corporations that operate global franchise systems as business strategies through their brands and to determine. Research design, data, and methodology - In the first study, 129 valid questionnaire sheets were analyzed. In the second study intended to determine whether the four performance improvement factors derived in the first study have positive effects on franchisees' business performance, 781 valid questionnaire sheets secured from six GDFFs were analyzed using AMOS analysis. Results - In the first study, four performance improvement factors were derived. In the second study, hypotheses regarding whether the performance improvement factors: leadership, communication, education and training, and brand, have positive effects on franchisees' business performance were tested, and as a result, one hypothesis was rejected and three hypotheses were adopted. Conclusions - The first and largest contribution of this study is that it derived performance improvement factors from GDFFs. The second contribution is that it determined whether the performance improvement factors that were derived have positive effects on franchisees' business performance with tests. The third contribution is that it created significant implications in terms of other studies, research value, and applications in industry fields.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.43-54
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• 2014

Purpose - This study was based on a theoretical consideration of the structural relationship between the support and control of the franchisor and the satisfaction and strategic response (voice, loyalty, exit, neglect) of the franchisee. First, based on the preceding research, this study systematically organized the type of support and control of the franchisor. Second, the study examined the effects of a franchisor's support and control on the expectancy disconfirmation between affiliated franchisees' expectations before a franchise agreement and performance after operating an affiliated store. Third, the study looked into the effects of expectancy disconfirmation relating to a franchisor's support and control on an affiliated franchisees' general satisfaction. Fourth, this study examined the influence of the general satisfaction of a franchisee on affiliated franchisees' response strategies. Research design, data, and methodology - In this study, the population comprised the nation's franchisors, and the sample comprised franchisees conducting business in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. A self-administered questionnaire was used; the author and examiner explained the study's parameters to the interviewees in advance, to lessen the rate of rejection of the answers and to maintain reliability. The author distributed 350 copies of the questionnaire and collected 327 copies (93.4%). The author removed 54 copies of the sample, as these copies belonged to franchisees that were not registered by the Fair Trade Commission and/or were thought to have either defects or inadequate answers. The author selected an effective sample of 273 copies to enter data and to do the statistical analysis. Results - Both a reliability analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis were performed to measure reliability and validity, and a structural equation model was used to conduct the hypothesis test and investigate the models. The hypothesis was tested (Table 5). The models had a suitable fit, for instance, χ² = 447.663(df = 212, p = .000), χ²/df = 2.112, GFI = .881, AGFI = .858, RMR = .083, RMSEA = .067, NFI = .932, and CFI = .961. The hypothesis test results were as follows. Hypothesis 1 was accepted (C.R. = -2.339, p = .019). Hypothesis 2 was accepted (C.R. = 15.213, p = .000). Hypothesis 3 was accepted (C.R. = -2.631, p = .006). Hypothesis 4 was accepted (C.R. = 16.271, p = .000). Hypothesis 5 was accepted (C.R. = 2.391, p = .017). Hypothesis 6 was accepted (C.R. = 5.777, p = .000). Hypothesis 7 was accepted (C.R. = 17.153, p = .000). Hypothesis 8 was accepted (C.R. = 24.746, p = .000). Hypothesis 9 was accepted (C.R. = -10.150, p = .000). Hypothesis 10 was accepted (C.R. = -12.124, p = .000). Conclusions - The research results showed that expectations for a franchisor's support and control had a significant influence on expectation disconfirmation in a negative way, whereas the performance of support and control were found to have a significant influence on expectation disconfirmation in a positive way. In addition, the expectation disconfirmation of support and control was found to have a significant influence on satisfaction of franchisees in a positive way. Generally, regarding the research on control, control is found to have a negative influence on the satisfaction of franchisees, but this study proves that control is found to affect it in a positive way through conformity.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.17-24
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• 2017

Purpose - In recent years, research has been conducted on the conflict resolution strategies of the franchise headquarters and the franchisees, but there is a lack of research on how the power structure and cultural factors play a role in resolving conflicts. From this perspective, this study is to examine the structural relationship between franchisors' cultural orientation and relationship power, and conflict resolution strategies, relationship trust, and relationship performance using. The findings of this study suggest how franchise headquarters should establish long-term relationship with franchisees and share information. Research design, data, methodology - The data were collected from April 1 to April 15, 2013. Because this study examined franchise industries from the franchisee perspective, we contacted franchisee store owner and managers located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. Interviewers trained contacted a total of 200 franchisees, and 196 franchisees responded. Out of 196 respondents, 13 respondents were deleted due to missing information. Thus, a total of 183 franchisee were used for this study. he data were analyzed using frequency analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equational modeling with SPSS 24.0 and Amos 23.0 statistical program. Results - The results showed that cooperation orientation and relational power of franchisor had significant effects on conflict resolution strategies. Cooperating, obliging, and compromising strategies of conflict resolution strategy had significant effects on relationship trust. Also, relationship trust had significant effect on relationship performance. Conclusions - This study shows that the franchise headquarters and the franchisees share necessary information for common purposes and that continuous two-way communications play an important role in resolving conflicts. In other words, the result of this study suggests that if the franchise headquarters and the franchisee actively consider the position of the other party and strive to achieve the goal, conflict resolution may be more successful. In order to do this, the franchise headquarters will have to consider how to build and maintain continuous communication with the franchisees, and continuous education is also needed so that employees can have a cooperative attitude. However, since the culture of these organizations is not made up of simple staff training and is not formed within a short time, the CEO of the franchisee headquarters should take the lead in establishing a cooperative culture with the merchants over the long term.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.339-342
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• 2008

Franchisors court additional franchisees as marketing partners for continued growth in sales revenue. Competitive climate, potential franchisees have their choice of suitors and are likely to scrutinize them carefully. As this research makes, franchisors affiliated with chains that forge strong partnerships are to achieve superior performance. The chain that promises a strong partnership is more have its choice of prospective franchise partners. Developing strong partnerships can use to recruit high quality franchisees. If franchisors with to experience the benefits of a strong franchise partnership, they must be willing to work on behalf of the partnership, perform roles that may extend beyond their traditional boundaries, and resolve their disagreement to the benefit of the partnership rather than to their own benefit. Strong partnerships require sacrifices on the part of both the franchisees and franchisors. However, These sacrifices have substantial payoffs in terms of franchisor performance as well as the performance of the relationship as a whole.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-17
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• 2010

This study aims to analyze the relationship between the expectation of franchisees to their franchisers before contracting and perceived performance after actually operation. The analysis data was collected from 789 franchisees located in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do of South Korea. The findings are as followings: first, the gap between expectation of franchisees and perceived performance was negative and it becomes an necessary for franchise managers to manage the expectation of franchisees by using various effective marketing strategies. Second, the gaps were different among different franchise industrial classifications and the gap in the food-service industry is the largest.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.39-48
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• 2022

Purpose: COVID-19 has negatively influenced the financial performance of restaurant firms. Previous literature suggests that the franchising strategy effectively helps restaurant firms recover from difficult business conditions through various methods for expanding business size and enhancing business efficiency. According to risk-sharing theory, restaurant franchisors may minimize operational risks by sharing the risks with their franchisees. For instance, restaurant franchisors could generate more stable cash flow using franchise fees from their franchisees. However, research on the effect of franchise's risk reduction factor on business performance during pandemic is scarce. Thus, this study aims to examine the positive moderating effect of franchising between COVID-19 and restaurants' financial performance. Research design, data, and methodology: Panel data including financial information and franchising status of restaurant firms were collected for analysis. In order to control for unobserved firm-specific factors, generalized least squared estimation in fixed effects model was conducted. Huber-White robust standard errors were used to deal with heteroscedasticity issues. Results: It was found that COVID-19 pandemic has a negative effect on the restaurants' financial performance such as ROA (return on assets), ROE (return on equity), and PM (profit margins), which confirms the findings from existing literature. More importantly, results show that the degree of franchising has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between COVID-19 and financial performance of restaurant firms. This suggests that more active engagement in franchising may decrease negative impacts of COVID-19 on the restaurants' financial performance. Conclusions: The study supports existing literature related to risk-sharing theory, by confirming that pandemics, such as COVID-19, negatively affect financial performance of the restaurants. Furthermore, it was found that franchising strategy can help lessen negative impacts of pandemics on the firm performance. These findings can contribute to the franchise and restaurant management literature by suggesting the role of franchising in reducing business risks, thereby positively affecting financial performance. Moreover, this study offers business managers of franchisors and franchisees insights for utilizing franchising in restaurant risk management. Policymakers may also gain information on aiding restaurant firms during global crisis, such as COVID-19.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.39-47
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• 2014

Purpose - The ultimate goal of a franchise system comes from its win-win strategy. Agency theory uses goal incongruity to examine complex contracting problems between buyers and suppliers. Goal incongruity within a contractual relationship can be defined as the agent's desire not to cooperate. It is the degree to which the contractual terms do not satisfy the agent's goals. The greater the goal incongruity between the agent and the contract, the more likely it is that the agent will meet the terms of the contract. Thus, goal incongruity between buyers and suppliers has close relationships with both behavioral and financial performance. This study tries to examine these relationships in the franchise context using a model including related variables, such as regulatory foci, financial performance, and opportunism, to explain the reasons that not all franchisees perform their best. In particular, the study examines the effects of goal incongruity on regulatory focus, and the effects of regulatory focus on performance and opportunism. In short, the objective is to determine goal incongruity's effect on regulatory foci, and the effect of regulatory focus on performance and opportunism. Research design, data, and methodology - This study used data collected from the franchisee managers of 104 franchisors in South Korea. The franchisors include more than 10 franchisees, the majority of whom have been in business for more than five years. The study also surveyed 104 franchisees, matched with their franchisors for the sake of a dyadic approach. The study used regression analysis to test the hypotheses. Results - H1 and H2 predicted that goal incongruity would decrease promotion focus and increase prevention focus. Supporting H1, the result indicates goal incongruity had a positive effect on promotion focus. However, H2 was not supported. Goal incongruity had no significant effect on prevention focus (β = -.375, t = -4.331 and β = -.145, t = -1.950, respectively). H3 and H4 predicted that promotion focus would increase financial performance and decrease opportunism. Supporting these hypotheses, the results indicate that promotion focus had a positive effect on financial performance and a negative effect on opportunism (β = .771, t = 7.899 and β = -.765, t = -6.778, respectively). H5 and H6 predicted that prevention focus would decrease financial performance and increase opportunism. However, the results do not support these hypotheses. The results indicate that prevention focus had no effects on opportunism or financial performance (β = -.130, t = -1.070 and β = .090, t = .641, respectively). Overall, the evidence generally supported the hypotheses. Conclusion - Goal incongruity between a franchisor and a franchisee increases the franchisee's financial performance and opportunism, and the relationship is mediated by promotion focus. Interestingly, however, prevention focus has no mediating effect between goal incongruity and performance. Even though no significant relation exists between goal incongruity and prevention focus, the results have two implications. First, decreasing goal incongruity can improve financial performance and suppress franchisee opportunism. Second, the relationship between goal incongruity and performance affects promotion-focused franchisees.

• The Korean Journal of Franchise Management
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.65-84
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to review the theories and cases of performance sharing in the franchise industry to present a method for more effective franchise performance-sharing. To that end, this study reviewed the theory on resource dependence and the theory on inequality to describe the performance-sharing between the franchisor and the franchisee and their relationship. It also looked at the cases of a week-in cooler system at 'Beer Market', the allocation of fees for alcoholic beverage sales to franchisees, the scholarship program of 'Onigiri and Ikyudon' and 'Bonsamo' which is a franchisees' committee for Bonjuk to introduce examples of performance-sharing. Through a theoretical review and case review, this study presents five types of methods for performance-sharing. First, 'the sharing of core competence by the franchise company; second, 'the establishment of a royalty culture'; third, 'scientific analysis of markets and establishment of a revenue forecast system'; fourth, 'reinforced financial support from the franchisor'; and lastly, 'the positive application of franchisees' committees'. Such methods are expected to provide a groundwork for mutual benefit and co-prosperity between franchisor and franchisee.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.189-201
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• 2018

This study analyzed the effect of core competence of supervisor on the satisfaction, loyalty, business performance of franchisees and business performance of franchisor. And the purpose of this study is to solve the most problematic issues in franchise business such as poor sales of franchisee, inadequate measures for activating sluggish stores, closing rate increase of franchisee, dispute between a franchisee and franchisor. The results of this study will be used as data for the success of Franchisor's business operation and for the change and development of the franchise industry. In this study, 168 CEOs and employees in the franchise industry were surveyed. Through previous research and expert interviews, we designed the core competency factors of franchise supervisors into seven areas: check, consulting, coordination, promotion, counseling, communication, and control. In order to verify the hypothesis of the research, the relationship between variables was verified by simple regression analysis and multiple regression analysis. Key result of the study are as follows. First, the core competency of the supervisor has a positive relationship with the franchisee's satisfaction. Second, the core competence of the supervisor has a positive relationship with the franchisee's loyalty. Third, franchisee's satisfaction has a positive effect on loyalty. Fourth, franchisee's satisfaction positively affects the business performance of franchisee and franchisor. Fifth, franchisee's loyalty positively affects the business performance of franchisee and franchisor.