Determinantes do crescimento e sustentabilidade das redes de franquias

Abstract

This study aimed to identify how interorganizational factors influence in the growth and sustainability of franchise networks. It started from the premise that it was not possible to elect a single factor for the growth of franchises, but rather a set of critical elements, which has been drawn from previous work. Governance and management, relationship between franchisor and franchisee, knowledge transfer and absorptive capacity, competitive intelligence and franchisee profile were the five factors that provided the basis for empirical research of this work. As a methodological way, the qualitative method was chosen. Two data analysis techniques were used: discourse analysis and critical incident technique. Fieldwork was conducted with three research subjects profiles: experts, franchisors and franchisees. The three groups were selected with the objective of capturing the vision of each profile in relation to the franchise system. All five investigated factors found support in empirical research. By consensus, the groups interviewed recognized the importance of the five elements and there was consensus too among the agents for some elements, such as franchisee profile. There were, however, differences identified in the perceptions, especially regarding the prioritization of the five factors. There were differences of perceptions among experts, franchisors and franchisees about the weight ranking of the critical factors of growth, demonstrating, each the respondent profile had a distinct vision of the weight of each of the factors for franchise networks growth. This work led to advances in the study of franchise networks, because analyzed the relationship between interorganizational elements and growth, different from the previous studies that in majority had focused on the search for evidence of a single factor in the performance impact.