Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand the franchisor's perception of the role of entrepreneurial strategic orientation (EO) – innovative, risk‐taking, and proactive actions – within the special case of franchised firms, given the opposing forces for...

In the two decades prior to 2000, the UK franchise industry showed substantial growth. Subsequently, however, this growth appears to have reached a plateau, with growth of less than 1 per cent. Franchisors suggest that the biggest barrier to growth is a lack of suitable franchisees. One possible...

The study of franchising as a small business growth strategy is only weakly researched and understood. This preliminary, qualitative investigation examines the experiences of 17 operational and five “failed” franchises in the UK, in translating their business concepts into a franchise...

This paper is part of on‐going research examining the growth of small and medium‐sized enterprises through franchising. It reports the findings of an exploratory investigation that examines why franchising is selected less frequently as a growth strategy in some industrial sectors than it is...

Purpose – In spite of the important contributions of franchising to many economies, it remains unclear whether it truly provides a scope for entrepreneurial tendencies to flourish amongst franchisees. The purpose of this paper is to examine the debate surrounding the franchisee as an...

Franchising has shown considerable growth in recent years and in advanced economies, such as the USA and the UK, and currently accounts for approximately one‐third of all retail sales. It would seem, therefore, that franchising and retailing represent a fruitful partnership, though there has...

In order to better understand why retail companies choose to franchise, a framework investigating intellectual capital and knowledge management is presented. Four aspects of intellectual capital are examined: human, structural, relational, and competitive. Results of the analysis find that the...