1、Brand passion: Antecedents and consequences 作者： Noel Albert, Dwight Merunka, Pierre Valette-Florence 国籍： France 出处： Journal of Business Research, 66(2013) 904-909. 原文正文： Franchise systems account for more than one-third of all 17,s. retail sales. And it is forecast that by 2005, they will account fo
2、r nearly hulf of U.S. retail sales. There are approximately 6,000 franchise systems worldwide, and many new systems are being established every year. But prospective franchisers need to take care to evaluate whether they should expand their business by franchising or by opening company-owned outlets
3、. Franchise systems are commonly classified into two types: (1) product-name and (2) business format. In product-name systems, the franchisee serves as an authorized distributor of a product for a manufacturer, such as GM car dealers,or a wholesaler, such as Coca-Cola bottlers.In business format fra
4、nchising. which deals primarily with service firms. the franchiser provides the franchisee with a trademark. operating guidance,and a specific format for running a service business. Examples include McDonalds, Jiffy Lube. Mail Boxes Etc., and so on. Most of the growth in franchising in recent years
5、has come from business format franchise systems. The explosive growth in the service sector of the economy bodes well for this area. It is estimated that U.S. sales from business format franchise systems will reach $1.3 trillion by 2010. Focusing on business format franchises, this article discusses
6、 the whys and wherefores of franchising, and outlines the options available to entrepreneurs and managers who are considering setting up a franchise system. WHY DO COMPANIES FRANCHISE? Much has been written about how entrepreneurs can benefit from becoming franchisees, how they should choose a franc
7、hise system, and how they should manage their franchise business. Relatively less,however, has been written about issues concerning prospective franchisers-entrepreneurial firms and managers of established companies who are considering the franchise option. We shall describe the benefits that motiva
8、te firms to franchise and illustrate how product-market char acteristics shape these motivations. Benefits of Franchising Prospective franchisers can better assess the suitabilityof this option if they understand the benefits that motivate firms to franchise. In other words, they must ask what advan
9、tages they can derive from operating franchised stores versus operating company-owned stores. Resource Constraints. Firms often franchise because they cannot readily raise the capital required to sat up company-owned stores. John 1. Brown. former president of Kentucky Fried Chicken, maintained that
10、it would have cost KFC $4 j0 million to establish its first 2,700 stores-a sum that was not available to the corporation in its initial strlges. It is interesting to note that even though KFC can now readily raise capital through traditional commercial means, it still continues to franchise. On the
11、other hand, a firm seeking growth may be able to raise capital, but it may lack the managerial resources required to set up a network of company-owned stores. Recruiting and training managers accounts for a significant percentage of the cost of growth of a firm. Franchisees supply labor and capital
12、together； often the joint cost of both labor and capital to the franchisor is lower than what it would be if the two inputs were procured separately. This hybrid nature of franchising enables firms to overcome the managerial resources and capital constraint problems simultaneously. Specialization/Fu
13、nctional Benefits. Franchising also provides an effective way to trade off certain functions and thereby minimize production costs. In general, franchisers are more cost efficient than franchisees in performing functions that decrease in cost with a substantial level ofoutput. And franchisees are mo
14、re efficient in performing functions whose average cost curve turns up relatively quickly. For example, in the fast-food business, product development and national promotion are more efficiently handled on a large scale (the franchiser), whereas the production of fast food is handled better on a rel
15、atively smaller scale (the franchisee). Monitoring Costs. Company-owned retails tores are run by employee managers who may often perform poorly if they are not supervised. A company, therefore, has to supervise its store managers. As a result, it will incur monitoring costs. But because franchisees
16、have invested capital in their own stores, and because their earnings come from the profits of those stores, they are motivated to work harder than company managers who do not have as much stake in the profits and success of the outlet. The corporation does not have to monitor managers who are selfm
17、otivated and are likely to take the initiative needed to make their store succeed. Thus, franchising helps a firm lower its monitoring costs. Promotion Efficiencies. A service firms trademark and brand image is crucial to the success of its retail outlets. Companies typically develop their brand ima
18、ge and trademark through extensive advertising and promotion. But a company will benefit from mass-media advertising only if it has in place a number of stores that customers who see its ads can visit. To reap the benefits of its national or regional advertising efforts, the company needs to attain
19、efficient scale, in terms of number of stores, as quickly as possible. Because franchising entails less monitoring and provides quicker access to capital and managerial resources, a firm can expand more quickly that way than through company-owned stores. Faster expansion through franchising, in turn
20、, allows companies to achieve more-or at least spread the costs out-from their advertising dollars. Risk Management. In using franchising as a tool to determine the profitability of retail locations, franchisers can, over time, convert profitable franchised locations into company-owned locations. Wh
21、en opening new stores, a corporation does not know with certainty the business potential and the chances of success of different locations. Franchising allows a firm to judge the profitability potential of different sites without incurring business risk. If a particular store fails, the franchisee b
22、ears the brunt of the failure. Once the profitability of different locations is established, franchisers can bring the more profitable locations under company ownership. Franchisers are not obligated to renew the franchise contract when it expires, so an ownership redirection strategy is theoretical
23、ly possible. But because of ethical concerns, it may not be possible or advisable to implement such a strategy in a systematic Manner. Product-Market Characteristics Shape FirmsMotivations to Franchise The various benefits discussed above are not mutually exclusive. In other words, a company may be motivated to franchise by all of these benefits, or by some combination of them. Its
