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Contract Mixing in Franchising as a Mechanism for Public‐Good Provision

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  • Chong‐En Bai
  • Zhigang Tao

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the coexistence of company‐owned units and franchised units in business format franchising and their different contractual arrangements. Drawing insights from case studies that indicate both the development and the maintenance of company‐wide brand names and unit‐specific sales activities are crucial to a franchise company, we construct a multitask model to account for such contract mixing in franchising. Intuitively, low‐powered contracts are offered to some managers to induce effort for brand‐name development and maintenance, while high‐powered contracts are offered to the remaining managers to elicit sales activity and capture the beneficial effect of the company brand name. Franchising can thus be viewed as an organizational agreement for production involving brand‐name products and services.

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  • Chong‐En Bai & Zhigang Tao, 2000. "Contract Mixing in Franchising as a Mechanism for Public‐Good Provision," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(1), pages 85-113, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jemstr:v:9:y:2000:i:1:p:85-113
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1430-9134.2000.00085.x
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    Cited by:

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    3. Etienne Pfister & Bruno Deffains & Myriam Doriat-Duban & Stéphane Saussier, 2006. "Institutions and contracts: Franchising," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 53-78, January.
    4. Hennessy, David A., 2003. "Property rights, productivity, and the nature of noncontractible actions in a franchise system," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 52(4), pages 443-468, December.
    5. Francine Lafontaine & Margaret Slade, 2007. "Vertical Integration and Firm Boundaries: The Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 45(3), pages 629-685, September.
    6. Cleunice Zanella & Andre L. S. Leite & Nei A. Nunes & Sandro V. Soares & Ivone Junges, 2023. "Plural Forms of Governance: Evidence from a Poultry Cooperative in Southern Brazil," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 15(11), pages 1-54, November.
    7. Giorgio Zanarone, 2012. "Coase (1937) revisited: Endogenous fiat in firms and markets," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 59(2), pages 201-221, July.
    8. Muriel Fadairo & Cintya Lanchimba & Miguel Yangari, 2016. "Optimal Monetary Provisions and Risk Aversion in Plural Form Franchise Networks A Model of Incentives with Heterogeneous Agents," Working Papers halshs-01251344, HAL.
    9. Bürkle, Thomas & Posselt, Thorsten, 2008. "Franchising as a plural system: A risk-based explanation," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 39-47.
    10. Debajyoti Chakrabarty & Ananish Chaudhuri & Chester Spell, 2002. "Information Structure and Contractual Choice in Franchising," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 158(4), pages 638-663, December.
    11. Andrei Hagiu & Julian Wright, 2019. "Controlling vs. Enabling," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(2), pages 577-595, February.
    12. Bai, Chong-En & Li, David D. & Tao, Zhigang & Wang, Yijiang, 2000. "A Multitask Theory of State Enterprise Reform," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 716-738, December.
    13. Dnes, Antony & Garoupa, Nuno, 2005. "Externality and organizational choice in franchising," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 139-149.
    14. Kranz, Sebastian & Lewin-Solomons, Shira B., 2008. "Decision Structures in Franchise Systems of the Plural Form," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers 8/2008, University of Bonn, Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE).
    15. Muriel Fadairo & Cyntia Lanchimba & Miguel Yangari, 2016. "Optimal Monetary Provisions and Risk Aversion in Plural Form Franchise Network. A Model of Incentives with Heterogeneous Agents," Working Papers 1602, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    16. Lin Ma & Yuefan Zhai & Tian Wu, 2019. "Operating Charging Infrastructure in China to Achieve Sustainable Transportation: The Choice between Company-Owned and Franchised Structures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-22, March.
    17. Brookes, Maureen & Roper, Angela, 2012. "Realising plural-form benefits in international hotel chains," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 580-591.
    18. Mark Bagnoli & Susan G. Watts, 2003. "Selling to Socially Responsible Consumers: Competition and The Private Provision of Public Goods," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 419-445, September.
    19. Muriel Fadairo & Cintya Lanchimba, 2014. "Organizational choices and performance in distribution systems," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(14), pages 1609-1623, May.
    20. Claude Ménard, 2004. "The Economics of Hybrid Organizations," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 160(3), pages 345-376, September.

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