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Determinants of multi-unit franchising: an organizational economics framework
No full textInternational audienceIn this paper, we use organizational economics theories to explain the percentage of multi-unit franchisees within franchise chains. We use transaction cost theory, property rights view and agency theory to formulate three research hypotheses that are related to franchisees' transaction-specific investments, intangibility of system-specific assets and risk of franchisee free-riding, respectively. These hypotheses are tested in the French franchising context by using a sample of 138 franchisors. The empirical results are largely supportive of the hypotheses. We extend the franchising literature by arguing that the explanation of the franchisor's use of multi-unit franchising requires the combined application of different theoretical perspectives
Social capital in Brazilian small-firm networks: the influence on business performance
No full textInternational audienceThis article investigates the influence of social capital on the business performance of firms participating in Brazilian small-firm networks. The study was based on a survey of 213 firms from 34 different small-firm networks. Four hypotheses were formulated and tested through multiple linear statistical regressions. We analysed the effects of the entrepreneurs' social capital in the following three dimensions: structural, relational and cognitive. In addition, we investigated how the centrality of the entrepreneur in the business network is related to its social capital. The results demonstrate the significant effects of the structural and relational dimensions of social capital on business performance and also show that entrepreneurs that occupy central positions in small-firm networks obtain benefits as social capital develops. This study contributes to the literature by showing that network managers can stimulate the development of social capital among members and positively influence the business performance of participating firms
A property rights view of multi-unit franchising
No full textInternational audienceThis study develops a property rights explanation of the multi-unit (MU) ownership strategy of the franchise firm. According to the property rights theory, the allocation of residual rights of control (decision and ownership rights) in franchise firms depends on the contractibility of system-specific and local market assets (LMA). We develop and test the following hypotheses: Multi-unit franchising (MUF) is positively related to the franchisor’s intangible system-specific assets and negatively to the franchisee’s intangible LMA. In addition, we argue that impact of financial assets on the tendency toward MUF depends on the contractibility of LMA. Empirical results from the German franchise sector provide partial support of the hypotheses. Compared to the agency theory, which focuses on (complete) incentive contracts that specify residual income rights between the franchisor and franchisee, property rights theory focuses on incomplete contracts that allocate residual control rights between the franchisor and network partners. Furthermore, compared to the resource scarcity theory, property rights theory explains the impact of contractibility of resources/assets on the ownership strategy of the franchise firm
The Fairly Good Economy: Testing The Economization Of Society Hypothesis Against A Google Ngram View Of Trends In Functional Differentiation (1800-2000)
No full textInternational audienceThe present article considers the economization of society a hypothesis rather than a fact. The hypothesis is tested against the results of a Google ngram viewer analysis of the most frequent function system references in the Google Books corpus for the years 1800-2000. Despite the remarkable growth figures in the English, French, and German language corpora as related to economic word frequency shares, the results suggest the rejection of the economization hypothesis. In fact, the growth trends of economic word frequencies are stopped in all of the three language areas, in none of which the economy ever reached a dominant position throughout the entire 200 years. The results give reason to assume that the idea of an economized society is an intellectual artifact rather than a fact. This fact is emphasized not to prove the marginal relevance of research in economic risks and benefits, but rather in terms of a suggestion to consider refocusing research foci and drawing increased attention to function systems beyond the politicoeconomic double stars of social science. Maybe even the solution to the present "economic" "crises" is not in more, but rather in less attention to the economy
Online Video Advertisement Avoidance: Can Interactivity Help?
No full textInternational audienceThe objective of this research is to explain the factors contributing toward consumers online video advertisement (OVA) avoidance behavior. Empirical data from 207 online consumers in France supports the hypotheses concerning the effect of relevance of contents, perceived authenticity and interactivity of OVAs. The findings suggest that consumers avoid OVAs by using ad blocker software due to irrelevant advertisement contents, lack of perceived authenticity of advertisement contents and most importantly due to the lack of interactivity. We conclude the study by offering some suggestions for reducing consumers avoidance of OVAs by increasing interactivity
How Do The Relational Investments Affect Relational Outcomes?
No full textInternational audienceThe paper integrates insights from transaction cost economics and relational exchange theory to discuss the efficacy of value-creating relational investments in affecting certain relational outcomes in context of supplier-intermediate buyer dyadic relationships. After performing PLS path modelling on a data set of 284 dyadic relationships, it has been found that value-creating relational investments made by the focal suppliers in their (intermediate) buyers positively affect various facets of satisfaction, trust and commitment (altogether, the relationship quality) of the intermediate buyers. It has been further argued that an enhancement in the relationship quality ultimately translates into an enhancement in performance of the inter - firm relationships
The Impact Of Adjustment In Capital Structure In Mergers & Acquisitions On Us Acquirers Business Performance
No full textInternational audienceThis paper examines the impact of adjustment in capital structure on 850 US acquirers business performance, within five years after mergers. We consider both leverage changes and adjustment in leverage deficit as our independent variables, and use Return On Equity (ROE) and Return On Assets (ROA) to measure post-merger performance. We find that leverage changes have a negative impact on performance, in both the short and long run after Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), indicating that financial flexibility contributes to acquirers post-merger performance. The results also show that acquirers with movement toward target leverage ratio enjoy better performance after M&A, but the correlation is not significant in the long run. Therefore, high financial flexibility created by low leverage is more essential to acquirers facing costly and sophisticated post-merger integration, than target leverage ratio that minimizes financing cost immediately
Consumer innovativeness, perceived innovation and attitude towards “neo-retro”-product design
No full textInternational audienceThe purpose of this paper is to examine if “neo-retro”-product design, which is based on the reinterpretation of forms from the past, can paradoxically convey design newness and looks at how such products are perceived by innovators
Smart regions. Two cases of crowdsourcing for regional development
No full textInternational audienceDespite a certified need for stronger ties between regional entrepreneurial ecosystems and larger networks, and despite an emerging discourse on beneficial interlinks between crowdsourcing and urban development, the relationship between crowdsourcing and regional development is underexplored. Unlike the few existing reports on voluntary bottom-up crowdsourcing initiatives for regional development, the focus of the present article is on two cases of top-down initiatives of crowdsourcing for regional development launched by institutional actors in the Swiss Canton of Valais and the Italian autonomous province, South Tyrol. The results of a comparison of the two cases suggest consideration of the strength of regional ties as factors that undermine crowd wisdom and flow as well as exercising caution with quantitative idea selection processes, at least in the context of smaller regional crowdsourcing projects