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Financial Constraints and Moral Hazard: The Case of Franchising

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  • Ying Fan
  • Kai-Uwe Kühn
  • Francine Lafontaine

Abstract

Financial constraints are an important impediment to the growth of small businesses. We study theoretically and empirically how the financial constraints of agents affect their decisions to exert effort, and, hence the organizational decisions and growth of principals, in the context of franchising. We find that a 30 percent decrease in average collateralizable housing wealth in a region delays chains’ entry into franchising by 0.28 years on average, 9 percent of the average waiting time, and slows their growth by around 10 percent, leading to a 10 percent reduction in franchised chain employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Ying Fan & Kai-Uwe Kühn & Francine Lafontaine, 2013. "Financial Constraints and Moral Hazard: The Case of Franchising," CESifo Working Paper Series 4474, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4474
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    2. Philippe Cyrenne, 2016. "The Determinants of Dual Distribution Revisited," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 167-182, July.
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    4. Hvide, Hans K. & Meling, Tom G., 2019. "Do Temporary Demand Shocks have Long-Term Effects for Startups?," CEPR Discussion Papers 14131, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
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    6. Wei Lin & Frank Mathewson & Junji Xiao, 2024. "Screening Through Investment: Evidence from the Chinese Automobile Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 64(4), pages 471-513, June.
    7. Lømo, Teis Lunde, 2020. "Vertical control, opportunism, and risk sharing," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    8. Céline Bonnet & Jan Philip Schain, 2020. "An Empirical Analysis Of Mergers: Efficiency Gains And Impact On Consumer Prices," Journal of Competition Law and Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 1-35.
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    11. Renáta Kosová & Giorgo Sertsios, 2018. "An Empirical Analysis of Self-Enforcement Mechanisms: Evidence from Hotel Franchising," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(1), pages 43-63, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    contracting; incentives; principal-agent; empirical; collateralizable housing wealth; entry; growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • L80 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - General

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