Policy Seminars
| Speaker: Kyle Mayer |
| Speaker's Website: http://www.marshall.usc.edu/web/MOR.cfm?doc_id=3052 |
| Topic: Franchishing, Ownership and Experience: A Study of Survival in the Pizza Industry |
| Date/Place/Time: Oct. 3, 2003 / Entrepreneurs Hall C315 / 1:30 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. |
| Abstract Research in organization theory and entrepreneurship has investigated the relationship between the failure rates of retail business units and chain affiliation as well as between failure rates and the experience of the chains. We build on those works by distinguishing between two types of chain affiliation: multi-unit ownership and franchisor affiliation. Our hypotheses illustrate (1) how knowledge gained by units from a chain's congenital experience differs for each type of affiliation, and (2) that important complementarities exist between the two types of chain affiliation and between the knowledge generated by each type. We found that franchisor affiliation was associated with substantially lower unit-level failure rates. Local congenital experience of both multi-unit owners and franchisor further reduced failure rates. Finally, a complementary effect was found for franchisee and franchisor congenital experience, suggesting that the franchisee's own congenital experience provides absorptive capacity that will enable them to better benefit from the congenital experience of the franchisor. |
| Link to paper (if available): |
| Click here for flyer |