When Does a Manager Matter in Franchising?

摘要

Franchising has become a dominant form of retailing in recent years. Franchising sector in the U.S. employed 8.8 Million people and produced output of $892 Billion in 2015 (IHS Economics 2016). Therefore, it is essential to know what drives performance of individual stores in franchising. A franchisor develops an organizational routine and diffuses it through a network of stores. Routine is articulated in detail in an operations manual so that it can be easily replicated across stores. This raises a question on the incremental value of a store manager in franchising: Does a manager matter for store performance in franchising? Our hypotheses are: H1: A franchisor's greater routinization has a positive effect on ambidexterity of (a) franchisee stores and (b) corporate stores. H2a: For franchisee stores, the positive effect of routinization on store ambidexterity becomes weaker when enforcement discretion goes up. H2b: For corporate stores, the positive effect of routinization on store ambidexterity does not change when enforcement discretion goes up. H3: The positive effect of routinization on store ambidexter---ity becomes weaker as a franchisor-franchisee relationship matures. H4: The deleterious effect of enforcement discretion on the link between routinization-and store ambidexterity is amplified in mature stages of a relationship.