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Why Are Royalty Rates Higher in Service‐type Franchises?

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  • Ram C. Rao
  • Shubashri Srinivasan

Abstract

Royalty payments from a franchisee to a franchisor serve as incentive for the franchisor to provide appropriate levels of quality and brand, name investment. However, since they also distort the service provided by the franchisee, we should expect relatively lower royalty rates in franchises that are primarily service‐oriented. Casual examination of royalty rates across product‐oriented and service‐oriented franchises shows that the opposite is true, with service‐type franchises enjoying higher royalty rates. We resolve this apparent puzzle. The basic argument we put forth is that in product‐type franchises, a franchisor can charge a wholesale price on goods transferred to the franchisee, thus using an alternative instrument that also serves as an incentive for the franchisor. Moreover, in general, a franchisor will use both wholesale price and royalty to minimize distortions in retail price and service at the retail level. We then test the predictions of our model on different industries and find confirmation for the same.

Suggested Citation

  • Ram C. Rao & Shubashri Srinivasan, 1995. "Why Are Royalty Rates Higher in Service‐type Franchises?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(1), pages 7-31, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jemstr:v:4:y:1995:i:1:p:7-31
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1430-9134.1995.00007.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Brickley, James A. & Dark, Frederick H., 1987. "The choice of organizational form The case of franchising," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 401-420, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Maruyama, Masayoshi & Yamashita, Yu, 2014. "Revenue versus incentive: Theory and empirical analysis of franchise royalties," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 154-161.
    2. Øystein Foros & Hans Jarle Kind & Jan Yngve Sand, 2009. "Slotting Allowances and Manufacturers' Retail Sales Effort," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 76(1), pages 266-282, July.
    3. Windsperger, Josef, 2001. "The fee structure in franchising: a property rights view," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 219-226, November.
    4. Francine Lafontaine & Margaret E. Slade, 1998. "Incentive Contracting and the Franchise Decision," NBER Working Papers 6544, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Choi, Jay Pil, 2001. "Technology transfer with moral hazard," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(1-2), pages 249-266, January.
    6. Vincent R. Nijs & Kanishka Misra & Karsten Hansen, 2014. "Outsourcing Retail Pricing to a Category Captain: The Role of Information Firewalls," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(1), pages 66-81, January.
    7. Wang, Dazhong & Xu, Xinyi & Zeng, Xianjie, 2023. "Comparisons of standard royalty auctions with seller post-auction effort," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    8. Wang, Dazhong & Xu, Xinyi & Zeng, Xianjie, 2022. "Bid signaling in first-price royalty auction," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    9. Josef Windsperger, 2013. "The governance of franchising networks," Chapters, in: Anna Grandori (ed.), Handbook of Economic Organization, chapter 27, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Masayoshi Maruyama & Yu Yamashita, 2012. "Franchise Fees and Royalties: Theory and Empirical Results," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 40(3), pages 167-189, May.
    11. Preyas Desai & Oded Koenigsberg & Devavrat Purohit, 2001. "Coordinating Channels for Durable Goods: The Impact of Competing Secondary Markets," Review of Marketing Science Working Papers 1-1-1017, Berkeley Electronic Press.
    12. Ivan Kotliarov, 2011. "Royalty Rate Structure in Case of Franchising," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 12(1), pages 139-156, May.
    13. Andrei Hagiu & Julian Wright, 2019. "The Optimality of Ad Valorem Contracts," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(11), pages 5219-5233, November.
    14. Øystein Foros & Kåre P. Hagen & Hans Jarle Kind, 2009. "Price-Dependent Profit Sharing as a Channel Coordination Device," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(8), pages 1280-1291, August.
    15. Oystein Foros & Hans Jarle Kind & Greg Shaffer, 2013. "Turning the Page on Business Formats for Digital Platforms: Does Apple's Agency Model Soften Competition?," CESifo Working Paper Series 4362, CESifo.

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