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Master international franchising is among the fastest growing methods for international franchisors to expand abroad because this method involves minimal financial risk and a quick go‐to‐market strategy. This article reviews the extant literature and develops propositions relating specific environmental factors to the propensity of franchisors to use master international franchising. We propose that master international franchising is more likely when the economic potential and level of corruption are low; and when the competitive intensity, demand variability, franchise knowledge, masculinity and individualism in society, geographical and cultural distance, country risk, and level of legal protection are high

This paper examines the internationalisation activities of eight French fashion retailers, with particular reference to their motivations and methods of entry into the UK retail fashion sector. The research results suggest that the ‘new wave’ of French fashion retailers (ie those established within the past 20 years), take a more proactive approach to cross‐border expansion than their more established counterparts. Expanding further the traditional motivations for internationalisation, as well as emphasising the importance of wholesaling and master‐franchising to fashion retailer market entry, the research provides a valuable insight into the pan‐national activities of fashion retailers. The paper concludes by making a case for further research into this much neglected, but very important area.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the franchising sector in Brazil and highlight the opportunities and offer strategies for practitioners. It also points out some challenges and gives suggestions to overcome them and thrive in the Brazilian market through the franchising system.

This paper reviews both literature and practical sources providing primary data from interviews conducted with franchising experts from the Brazilian Franchising Association and a consultant company.

International franchisors willing to enter the Brazilian market might face some challenges, such as the language barrier, the complex tax system and the need for local adaptations. Foreign entrants should consider low control entry modes as master franchising and area development agreements, with local partners that know the Brazilian culture, business system and regulations.

Brazil presents a great market potential for international franchisors. It counts with an established franchising system and a stable regulatory environment. This paper provides relevant information about the characteristics, opportunities and challenges to operate in the Brazilian market, offering suggestions of strategies and several possibilities to explore different regions, locations and models across the country.

This paper seeks to examine the inter‐organisational processes used to control international master franchise agreements from operational, relational and evolutionary perspectives.

The research is undertaken through a qualitative, in‐depth case study in the international hotel industry. The case comprises an international master franchise agreement between a large US‐based hotel franchisor and its European master franchisee.

The study identifies the inter‐related nature of operational and relational control processes and how these evolve over the life of a master franchise agreement. It reveals how the perceptions of franchise members serve to enhance or inhibit the development of relational norms and how these, in turn, impact on the predominant type of control and the specific inter‐organisational processes employed.

The research is based on a single in‐depth case study within one industrial context and the universality of the findings may therefore be limited.

The paper offers insights to managers of international master franchise agreements on the interaction between members' perceptions, relational norms developed and the inter‐organisational processes used to control the agreement. It also reveals how the use of contractual controls can inhibit the development of relational norms and negatively impact on relationships between franchisors and master franchisees. The findings presented may have relevance to managers of other types of international alliance agreements.

By drawing on both the alliance and franchise literature and employing a qualitative approach, the study helps to close a gap in the current international franchise literature through the identification of specific inter‐organisational processes for control within international master franchise agreements, how these evolve in respect of relational norms and how these are underpinned by perceptions of franchisor and franchisee members.

Although international franchising has occurred in East Asia over the past 20 years, surprisingly very little academic research has been undertaken to understand key dynamics of this marketing phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to examine franchise resources, which is a key construct in the internationalization of retail franchising.

A multiple case study approach has been adopted to generate rich data designed to aid understanding of the complexities inherent within such an international marketing relationship. The data were drawn from five US food service retail franchises, which are household brands across East Asia, operating in Singapore.

This study presents several interesting findings for the retail franchise industry. First, consistent with resource scarcity theory, international franchising relationship begins with a high degree of franchise dependency on the local franchisees. Next, international franchisors will be well served to select their overseas franchisees with strong financial resources to engage in rapid expansion, good contacts to secure early stores in prime retail locations and well‐proven local knowledge to modify the concept to suit particular market needs.

Findings from this study have important managerial implications for international retail franchisors on how to effectively select franchisees to successfully launch and manage their brands in East Asia.

This empirical study has made a major contribution in adding to the limited body of empirical knowledge on franchisee selection in international retail franchising, particularly in East Asia. It is hoped that this paper will encourage more academics to investigate why certain international retail franchise concepts perform relatively better in East Asia than others.

The governance structure of international franchise firms varies from higher control modes, such as wholly owned subsidiaries and joint venture franchising, to lower control modes, such as area development and master franchising. Based on organizational economics, strategic management, and international business perspectives, the purpose of this paper is to use the case study analysis to empirically evaluate an integrative model on the franchisor’s choice of international governance modes.

The study applies qualitative methods, such as in-depth case analysis, to investigate a large set of variables that influence the governance structure decision of the international franchise firm. Specifically, it applies a theory-testing case study with two major competitors in the European automotive rental industry, i.e. Europcar and Sixt. Theory-testing case research is justified by the lack of explanatory research due to the complexity of the franchisor-franchisee relationship phenomena, such as the factors that influence the franchisor’s choice of international governance modes. The investigation of the complex governance structure phenomenon requires a holistic analysis.

The case study shows that environmental, behavioral, transaction-specific, resource-based (system-specific, market-specific, financial resources), and international strategy considerations are important determinants of the governance mode decision of the international franchise firm.

The study responds to the recent call in organizational economics, marketing, strategic management, and international business literature to develop and test a multi-theoretical framework to explain the governance structure of inter-organizational networks, such as franchise networks.

Few previous studies in international franchising have used more than one theoretical perspective to explain the governance structure of the international franchise firm. This study contributes to the theory-testing case study literature by applying a rigorous method of conducting case research. This includes developing a theoretical framework and a systematic research design. A systematic research design requires a holistic analysis by investigating the international franchise governance modes from a variety of theoretical perspectives which are the organizational economics, strategic management, and the strategy-structure perspective.

Portugal has been considered a peripheral market by international franchisors owing to the small market size and, in some cases, the geographical and cultural distance. However, as a reflex of the global trends in franchising, the last decade has witnessed the expansion of networks and the entry of many new foreign operators in Portugal. The presence of international franchise systems is dominant, but a small number of local concepts was developed and some have already started international operations. Reports the results of an empirical study that purported to identify and assess the methods of penetration in Portugal used by foreign participants; the proceedings for implementation of franchise systems at national level; participants′ opinions on major problems encountered in establishing the franchise system in Portugal; the opinion of participants about the performance and prospects of evolution; and the characteristics of international operations of national franchise systems and prospects for expansion.

This case examines the internationalisation of fashion retailing and is based upon the entry of French fashion retailers, Morgan and Kookai, into the UK. The case considers their motivation for entry into the highly competitive UK fashion retail market, and explores, in particular, the methods of entry adopted by these companies. The case concludes with an assessment of the potential barriers that exist in respect of successful fashion retail internationalisation and seeks to identify the internal competencies that are required of fashion retailers in order that they might replicate their domestic market success within other countries.

Franchising has become a major driving force in the globalisation of service businesses. Likewise, international retailing has become an important feature of global distribution systems. This has been brought about through changing socio‐economic patterns, favourable political and cultural environments, and a shift from manufacturing to service based economies. Both developments have contributed to the globalisation of marketing activity. However, there remain fundamental conceptual inconsistencies in the literatures that explain the development of international retailing and the internationalisation of franchise operations. This paper considers the use of franchising in the internationalisation of retail operations and places the experience of retail operations that use the market entry strategy within the context of other franchising activity. The paper evaluates the literature on the internationalisation of retailing alongside the literature on franchising. It identifies the different perspectives that have emerged within the two literatures and conceptually reconciles the contradictions that exist.

This paper aims to provide a bibliometric meta-analysis of the already substantial and growing literature on international franchising. Franchising is a model for businesses to achieve scale with limited resources. International franchising is a mode of entry that allows firms to develop new markets with relatively little risk but also little control.

Using a systematic approach, the paper identifies all articles in the ISI Web of Science from 1970 to 2018 that includes the term international franchising (in the title, the abstract or keywords) and finds 131 articles. This paper used HistCite software to analyze the bibliometric data.

Four major research clusters in the international franchising literature are identified. In addition, this study shows a change in research patterns regarding topics, theories and methodologies from the 1970s through 2018. The paper presents the most influential articles, authors and journals.

From the analyzes, this study develops a conceptual framework of international franchising and suggest avenues for future research.