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The authors conduct a structured analysis of the literature on the determinants of economic and financial franchise performance and develop an integrative framework that unifies the literature from franchisor as well as franchisee perspectives.

53 relevant research articles on economic and financial franchise success published between 1976 and 2020 were identified. After providing an overview of the empirical methods and theoretical perspectives found in the literature, an original classification system of franchise success determinants was developed.

More than 50 different variables impacting economic or financial franchise success were identified and grouped into ten distinct categories. The most impactful categories are the franchise relationship, franchisee characteristics and capabilities, franchisor variables and the franchise environment. The study’s integrative framework illustrates not only the impact of these factors on franchise success, but also reveals which areas require more attention.

As the study focused on understanding the determinants of franchise success, any measures related to franchise failure were excluded. Also, the role of venture capital and stock market listing as growth strategies in the franchise sector were excluded.

The study’s framework shows how the management of franchise success is complex and that franchise relationship, franchisee and franchisor variables as well as the franchise context need to be taken into account. It illustrates that there is a hierarchy with which these determinants should be prioritized.

The article proposes the first systematic review of the literature on the determinants of economic and financial franchise success. The contribution offers both, researchers and practitioners, new and useful insights for future knowledge development in the field.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the nature of a branded mobile application experience for children, and analyse how these experiences affect the children’s and parents’ brand perceptions.

The authors use a qualitative approach focussing on the consumer perspective. Children were asked to use two selected applications from an I-Pad tablet (“La Grande Récré” – A1 and “MonkiMi” – A2). Children and parents were subsequently interviewed.

Children primarily valued the emotional experience of the application (app). The parents appreciated their children’s cognitive experience of the mobile app. Parents are much more responsive to mobile application communication, as they perceive to have more control over this new media and value the cognitive and emotional dimension of their children experience of the app.

The study shows that branded apps can be an extremely effective way in delivering valuable brand content which positively impact brand perceptions. This initial and exploratory study calls for further extensive research in this area.

This research demonstrates the untapped potential of sponsored apps as a communication medium.

The paper indicates that mobile applications constitute a new communication channel for retailers and brand owners to interact at an emotional level with their existing or prospective customers.

The purpose of this paper is to consider how different governance mechanisms affect the level of franchisees' compliance with their franchisor's directives. The research objectives are threefold: to investigate how franchisors can use explicit contracts and develop relational norms as governance mechanisms to prevent their franchisees from deviating from the franchise system directives; to show how information systems allow to control franchisees at a distance; and to throw light on the ways in which these three control mechanisms can play alternatively or simultaneously in the management of franchise relationships.

The paper takes the form of a multiple regression analysis with interaction effects of survey data collected from franchisees of various French franchise systems.

Overall, the results support an emphasis on contract and information systems in the management of the risks of “free riding” behaviour in franchise systems. The results indicate that formal control mechanisms are more efficient in the management of franchise systems whereas relational norms are less so. The results do not reveal that all combinations of control mechanisms are more efficient in disciplining agents. Recommendations will be used by franchisors to implement an effective control strategy.

Future research should focus on replicating the findings using a contingency perspective. Cross‐cultural studies should also be carried out.

This paper applies to the governance of franchise relationships a research framework that validates the role of explicit contracts and information systems in the management of franchise systems.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the preferences of children under the age of 12 regarding sales channels: how young consumers perceive online vs offline shopping in terms of advantages and disadvantages. Within a cross channel perspective, it also analyses the connections they make between brick-and-mortar and online stores.

Results are drawn from an exploratory and qualitative study based on a multi-category approach. In all, 62 children (34 girls and 28 boys) aged six to 12 years were interviewed about the advantages and disadvantages of each channel for shopping; how/where they would prefer to shop and why; and the links they make between a brand’s physical store and an online store.

Traditional sales outlets are more popular with six to 12 year olds than online shopping. Physical stores offer variety and instant gratification. Products can be tried out and tested on-site, making the offline retail experience a fun activity. Conversely, children express a very negative perception of e-retailing, which they often consider to be dishonest, offering limited choice at higher prices. When shopping online, delivery time can be a deterrent. Last but not least, no cross-channel shopping perceptions were found.

Several results from this study can inform marketing practices at retailers’ headquarters. Store assortment, product availability and store atmospherics are central to the success of offline shopping among six- to 12-year-old children. Retailers should find ways to transfer this relational approach to their online strategy. In the meantime, they must deliver the same basic promises as in stores: a wide choice and competitive prices, no shortage of products and no late delivery.

This study adds to the existing body of knowledge on children’s consumer behaviour in three ways. First, it provides new insight into how children perceive not the internet per se but online shopping. Second, it confirms that stores still play a dominant role in shaping the image of a retail brand, from an early age. Third, it suggests that the cross-channel perspective may not apply to very young consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach at defining a retail channel strategy applied to young consumers.

The authors use a qualitative study that adopts the consumer perspective and employed an investiga-tive channel-scan approach based on two scenarios applied to 12 retailers selling childrenswear. The authors studied 139 flows between all the channels and explored the retailers’ child orientation.

The paper revealed that the channel configuration and integration of retailers showed a di-versity of approach leading us to distinguish eight different retail channel strategies. It also appears that there is limited evidence of a specific selling channels designed for children by retailers in selling products aimed at the child market.

This study contributes to the retail marking literature by showing evidence of child orienta-tion in channel management. Nevertheless, the results show the need for future research to understand the causes and effects of channel child orientation and the way it contributes to the retail channel strategy.

The findings have practical implications for retailers by providing a framework to help them in their decision-making regarding retail channel strategy. It also sheds new light on the con-tribution from young consumers in retail channel strategy.

The contribution of this paper is to explore the combined perspective of configuration and integration of the channel-to-market as part of the retail channel strategy. The paper also provides evidence of child orientation in retail channel strategy when retailers selling prod-ucts for children are concerned.

The current work reviews all retailing articles published in four prominent retailing journals – Journal of Retailing, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, and International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research – in the 2009-2015 period, picking up where Runyan and Hyun (2009) left off. The purpose of this paper is to identify leading authors and institutions in retailing research based on overall impact.

Content analysis/literature review/descriptive research.

In total, 1,392 articles were published during this time period, and through a procedure of weights and adjustments for author count, journal impact, journal quality, and journal publishing opportunity, the findings reveal that research collaboration is highly prevalent, as evidenced by the high number of multi-authored papers and cross-university/international partnerships. Additionally, some authors and institutions remain influential, while others have emerged as highly influential in the last seven years. This shows the dynamic nature of the field and the need to remain active in quality publishing.

Scholars must understand that several factors influence impact judgments, which cannot be assessed using raw counts alone. Journal quality, impact, and publishing opportunity as well as author counts are important elements to consider.

These reviews are vital to the field in that they provide status updates on scholarship, so these reviews should be done periodically. Additionally, the findings in this paper provide a more holistic understanding of research impact and permit better assessment for scholars and administrators.

It is, of course, Aristotle who pointed out that “Man is by nature a political animal” (quotation taken from Lipset, 1981:vii). One could of course speculate whether he meant only the male half of the human species were political animals. It is, however, the case that men tend to participate more in politics than women. This particular study focuses upon men and women's political participation in Greece, the place many regard as the birthplace of democracy.