IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jouret/v96y2020i4p548-562.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Conflict Aftermath: Dispute Resolution and Financial Performance in Franchising

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Jeff Jianfeng
  • Grünhagen, Marko
  • Ji, Li (Jenny)
  • Zheng, Xu (Vivian)

Abstract

Franchisor–franchisee relationships entail frequent disputes, some of which escalate to litigation. Yet, the filing of litigation does not represent the end of conflict management. Firms can still choose to de-escalate conflicts after the filing of litigation by choosing alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms. To date, the impact of post-litigation dispute resolution mechanisms on franchise systems’ financial performance has not been studied in the extant literature. This study investigates the impact of franchisor- versus franchisee-initiated litigations, individually and jointly with dispute resolution mechanisms and franchise statutory regimes (i.e., relationship law and registration law), on franchise system performance. To address these research questions, a longitudinal study of actual conflict episodes based on objective accounts of dispute initiation, resolution, and corresponding outcomes was conducted. Theoretical contributions to the distribution channels conflict management literature and managerial implications for the franchise industry are offered.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Jeff Jianfeng & Grünhagen, Marko & Ji, Li (Jenny) & Zheng, Xu (Vivian), 2020. "Conflict Aftermath: Dispute Resolution and Financial Performance in Franchising," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 96(4), pages 548-562.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jouret:v:96:y:2020:i:4:p:548-562
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretai.2020.03.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022435920300142
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretai.2020.03.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reinartz, Werner & Dellaert, Benedict & Krafft, Manfred & Kumar, V. & Varadarajan, Rajan, 2011. "Retailing Innovations in a Globalizing Retail Market Environment," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 87(S1), pages 53-66.
    2. 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.
    3. Jeff S. Johnson & Ravipreet S. Sohi, 2016. "Understanding and resolving major contractual breaches in buyer–seller relationships: a grounded theory approach," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 185-205, March.
    4. Preyas S. Desai, 1997. "Advertising Fee in Business-Format Franchising," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(10), pages 1401-1419, October.
    5. Assâad El Akremi & Mignonac Karim.Mignonac@ut-Capitole.Fr Karim & Rozenn Perrigot, 2011. "Opportunistic behaviors in franchise chains: the role of cohesion among franchisees," Post-Print halshs-00738124, HAL.
    6. Richard F. J. Haans & Constant Pieters & Zi-Lin He, 2016. "Thinking about U: Theorizing and testing U- and inverted U-shaped relationships in strategy research," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7), pages 1177-1195, July.
    7. Olav Sorenson & Jesper B. Sørensen, 2001. "Finding the right mix: franchising, organizational learning, and chain performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 713-724, June.
    8. Mick Carney & Eric Gedajlovic, 1991. "Vertical integration in Franchise systems: Agency theory and resource explanations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(8), pages 607-629, November.
    9. Francine Lafontaine, 1992. "Agency Theory and Franchising: Some Empirical Results," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 23(2), pages 263-283, Summer.
    10. James A. Brickley, 2002. "Royalty Rates and Upfront Fees in Share Contracts: Evidence from Franchising," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(2), pages 511-535, October.
    11. Wesley James Johnston & Angelina Nhat Hanh Le & Julian Ming-Sung Cheng, 2018. "A meta-analytic review of influence strategies in marketing channel relationships," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 674-702, July.
    12. Jakki Mohr & Robert Spekman, 1994. "Characteristics of partnership success: Partnership attributes, communication behavior, and conflict resolution techniques," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(2), pages 135-152, February.
    13. James A. Brickley & Frederick H. Dark & Michael S. Weisbach, 1991. "An Agency Perspective on Franchising," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 20(1), Spring.
    14. Steven C. Michael, 2000. "Investments to create bargaining power: the case of franchising," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 497-514, April.
    15. Kidwell, Roland E. & Nygaard, Arne & Silkoset, Ragnhild, 2007. "Antecedents and effects of free riding in the franchisor-franchisee relationship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 522-544, July.
    16. Gassenheimer, Jule B. & Baucus, David B. & Baucus, Melissa S., 1996. "Cooperative arrangements among entrepreneurs: An analysis of opportunism and communication in franchise structures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 67-79, May.
    17. Grünhagen, Marko & Zheng, Xu (Vivian) & Wang, Jeff Jianfeng, 2017. "When the Music Stops Playing: Post-litigation Relationship Dissolution in Franchising," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 93(2), pages 138-153.
    18. Noordhoff, C.S. & Kyriakopoulos, K. & Moorman, C. & Pauwels, P. & Dellaert, B.G.C., 2011. "The Bright Side and Dark Side of Embedded Ties In Business-to-Business Innovation," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2011-008-MKT, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    19. Claire Champenois & Michel Devigne & François-Régis Puyou, 2016. "How Can Venture Capitalists-Owner Managers Conflicts Be Managed? If You Want Peace, Agree to Keep the Peace," Post-Print hal-01398988, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Perrigot, Rozenn & López-Fernández, Begoña & Basset, Guy, 2021. "Conflict management capabilities in franchising," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    2. Eunkyung Lee & Ji-Hern Kim & Chang Seop Rhee, 2021. "Effects of Marketing Decisions on Brand Equity and Franchise Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-15, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chabowski, Brian R. & Hult, G. Tomas M. & Mena, Jeannette A., 2011. "The Retailing Literature as a Basis for Franchising Research: Using Intellectual Structure to Advance Theory," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 269-284.
    2. Gillis, William E. & Combs, James G. & Yin, Xiaoli, 2020. "Franchise management capabilities and franchisor performance under alternative franchise ownership strategies," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(1).
    3. S. Verbieren & M. Cools & A. Van den Abbeele, 2008. "Franchising. A Literature Review on Management and Control Issues," Review of Business and Economic Literature, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Review of Business and Economic Literature, vol. 0(4), pages 398-443.
    4. William E. Gillis & James G. Combs & David J. Ketchen Jr., 2014. "Using Resource–Based Theory to Help Explain Plural Form Franchising," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(3), pages 449-472, May.
    5. Guo, Shiau-Ling, 2023. "The governance implication of the geographic concentration of franchise activities for franchise relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    6. Utgård, Jakob & Nygaard, Arne & Dahlstrom, Robert, 2015. "Franchising, local market characteristics and alcohol sales to minors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 2117-2124.
    7. Gonzalez-Diaz, Manuel & Solis-Rodriguez, Vanesa, 2012. "Why do entrepreneurs use franchising as a financial tool? An agency explanation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 325-341.
    8. Cliquet, Gérard & Pénard, Thierry, 2012. "Plural form franchise networks: A test of Bradach’s model," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 159-167.
    9. Jell-Ojobor, Maria & Windsperger, Josef, 2014. "The Choice of Governance Modes of International Franchise Firms — Development of an Integrative Model," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 153-187.
    10. Itai Ater & Oren Rigbi, 2015. "Price control and advertising in franchising chains," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 148-158, January.
    11. Antonio Navarro García & Enrique Carlos Díez de Castro & Francisco Javier Rondán Cataluña, 2006. "Franchisor Types In Portuguese Franchising," Portuguese Journal of Management Studies, ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa, vol. 0(2), pages 97-114.
    12. Francine Lafontaine & Kathryn L. Shaw, 2005. "Targeting Managerial Control: Evidence from Franchising," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(1), pages 131-150, Spring.
    13. Davies, Mark A.P. & Lassar, Walfried & Manolis, Chris & Prince, Melvin & Winsor, Robert D., 2011. "A model of trust and compliance in franchise relationships," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 321-340, May.
    14. 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.
    15. Roland E. Kidwell & Arne Nygaard, 2011. "A Strategic Deviance Perspective on the Franchise Form of Organizing," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(3), pages 467-482, May.
    16. Francine Lafontaine & Joanne Oxley, 2001. "International Franchising: Evidence from US and Canadian Franchisors in Mexico," NBER Working Papers 8179, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Vázquez-Suárez, Luis & Mejía-Vásquez, Pericles Ramón & Serafim da Silva, Sheila & Sánchez-Gómez, Roberto, 2022. "Gender’s moderating role in the relationship between organisational form and performance in the Spanish supermarket industry," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    18. William E. Gillis & Ellen McEwan & T. Russell Crook & Steven C. Michael, 2011. "Using Tournaments to Reduce Agency Problems: The Case of Franchising," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(3), pages 427-447, May.
    19. Barthélemy, Jérôme, 2011. "Agency and institutional influences on franchising decisions," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 93-103, January.
    20. Francine Lafontaine & Margaret E. Slade, 1998. "Incentive Contracting and the Franchise Decision," NBER Working Papers 6544, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jouret:v:96:y:2020:i:4:p:548-562. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.