Best in Class International Franchise Model: Optimizing Performance for UK retailers

拟议的知识交流计划，与英国领先的零售商合作，解决了与零售业国际化有关的核心业务问题。高街零售商在英国和国际市场面临日益激烈的全球竞争。可持续的国际增长对于英国零售商保持竞争地位至关重要，这对英国经济具有重大意义。过去，英国零售业国际化的记录好坏参半。该项目将帮助英国企业优化其国际战略，从而支持英国整体经济。应用研究的重点是国际特许经营，这是一个在商业和学术知识方面存在重大差距的领域。这项工作将有利于用户社区（合作伙伴和英国零售商），并将有助于国际化新理论的发展。英国的经济衰退使英国零售商重新关注国际化。然而，该行业的国际化是困难的--世界各地消费者的差异通常意味着零售产品必须适应;零售品牌必须“更加努力”;新兴市场（最大的新机遇所在）通常文化差异更大，内在风险更高。零售商还需要有一个多渠道战略，并提供跨渠道的综合购物体验。特许经营通常是零售商国际化战略的核心，因为它使他们能够快速扩张，跟上购物中心的发展步伐，提供一定数量的当地市场知识和专业知识，风险最小。然而，零售商也希望他们在其他国家的合作伙伴帮助建立他们的品牌，他们准备这样做的程度受到特许经营模式的影响。这项研究的目的是帮助用户群优化他们的特许经营模式，特别是因为它涉及到新兴市场，特别是俄罗斯，乌克兰，土耳其和中东的某些地区。将对特许经营和其他国际经营方式（独资经营和合资经营）的业绩进行比较。拟议的研究也将有利于学术界。在国际营销和国际商务研究中，特许经营可以被看作是一个与合资企业和战略联盟相关的“灰姑娘”话题。现有的文献主要以美国为中心，重点关注国内市场的特许经营，重点关注餐厅和酒店的特许经营。学术文献未能跟上这样一个事实，即特许经营越来越多地被企业，特别是零售商使用。虽然在文献中有一些认识，特许经营是一个有价值的手段，以发展海外业务（例如，沃森等人，2004年），有什么研究往往把特许经营作为一个统一的做法，并没有考虑到具体的特许经营条款，可能会导致截然不同的特许经营模式，因此不同的结果，为特许经营人。在知识交流方案期间进行的应用研究采用了多种方法：内容分析、定性访谈和定量数据分析。该研究将结合联合收割机从一系列来源获得的数据，包括来自新兴市场合作伙伴的访谈和调查数据以及现有公司数据。这项工作将根据现有的保密协议进行管理。

The proposed knowledge exchange programme, in partnership with a leading UK retailer, addresses a core business problem relating to the internationalisation of retailing. High street retailers face increasing global competition both in the UK and in international markets. Sustainable international growth is imperative for UK retailers to retain their competitive position and this has significant implications for the UK economy. In the past, the record of UK retail internationalisation has been mixed. This project will help UK firms optimize their international strategy and hence support the overall UK economy. The applied research focuses on international franchising which is an area where there is a significant gap in both business and academic knowledge. The work will benefit the user community (the partner and UK retailers generally) and will contribute to the development of new theory on internationalisation. The economic downturn in the UK has seen a renewed focus on internationalisation by UK retailers. Yet internationalisation is the sector is difficult - differences in consumers around the world usually mean the retail offer has to be adapted; the retail brand has to "work harder"; emerging markets (where the greatest new opportunities are) are generally more culturally different and inherently riskier. Retailers also need to have a multi-channel strategy and provide an integrated shopping experience across channels.Franchising is often central to retailers internationalisation strategy as it enables them to expand quickly, keeping pace with shopping mall development, provides a certain amount of local market knowledge and expertise, with a minimal amount of risk. However, retailers also want their partners in other countries to help build their brand and the extent to which they are prepared to do this is influenced by the franchise model. The aim of this research is to help the user group optimize their franchising model especially as it relates to emerging markets, specifically Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and certain areas of the Middle East. Performance comparisons will be made between franchising and other modes of international operation (wholly owned and joint venture operations). The proposed research will also benefit the academic community. Franchising can be seen as a "Cinderella" topic in international marketing and international business research, compared with the allied topics of joint ventures and strategic alliances. What literature there is in existence is predominantly USA-centric, heavily focused on franchising in the domestic market and heavily focused on restaurant and hotel franchises. The academic literature has failed to keep up with the fact that franchising is increasing in its usage by businesses and especially by retailers. While there is some recognition in the literature that franchising is a valuable means to develop a business abroad (e.g. Watson et al, 2004), what studies there are tend to treat franchising as a uniform practice and fail to take account of the specific franchise terms that can result in vastly different franchising models and hence different outcomes for the franchisor. The methodology for the applied research to be undertaken during the knowledge exchange programme uses mixed methodologies: content analysis, qualitative interviews and quantitative data analysis. The study will combine data from a range of sources including interview and survey data from partners in the emerging markets and existing company data. The work is to be managed under an existing confidentiality agreement.