A comparative examination of the relationships and conflicts within the convenience store and estate agency industries in the Taiwanese retail franchise market

Abstract

This thesis is an examination of the relationships and conflicts between franchisors and franchisees in the Taiwan retail franchise market. Two examples, convenience stores and estate agencies, are compared as these typify the retail and service sectors. The method adopted in this research is a form of exploratory qualitative research, since the purpose is to provide insights and understanding of the nature of marketing. In this research, there are many points, which conflict with previous research, such as the performance between multi-unit and single franchising, monitoring issues, buying back franchisees, the resource constraints of management talent and financial capital,brand transference and so on. From the empirical findings, the author suggests this is related to local culture and operational customs. Further, in international franchising, the author's results show that there is no relationship between internationalisation and company scale. What is important is whether any two businesses have the same commercial objective. Some interviewees offer valuable insights, which have never been discussed before, for example, most of the previous researches on financial constraints focus on whether it is cheaper to obtain capital from franchisees as compared to stockholders or financial institutions. However, a valuable point interviewees have suggested is that the question should be related to whether the power of the brand is strong as compared with other factors. In other words, if the brand power is strong, then other constraints will be minimized. Based on the above findings, relationships and conflicts between franchisors and franchisees are then explored. Based on the nature of industry and ownership patterns, what the franchisees care about is autonomy in the convenience store sector, whereas brand power is highlighted in the estate agency sector. The common point is that both industries stress the importance of communication, but this function fails in this research for different reasons and these reasons can be traced back to the difference of ownership patterns. Therefore, aside from the contribution to theories, three models are developed for practical application from the perspective of communication. In conclusion, with smooth organizational communication and constructive interactions, both parties will benefit from each other and enjoy the synergy of increased brand power.