The development of a model on which to base franchise relationships

This paper aims at developing a model on which to base good quality franchise relationships. The franchise sector has the potential to generate wealth for the franchisee and the franchisor, create employment and be a tool of empowerment. It is also associated with relatively less risk than other forms of self-employment. However, there have been a disturbing number of failures in the sector and reported cases of abuses of franchisees by franchisors. Some franchisors have sought liquidation of franchise units in courts of law. An investigation was commissioned into the sector with the objective of uncovering problems in the quality of the relationships in the sector. The obligations of both the franchisees and franchisors were stipulated. Aspects of quality were then considered to lay a foundation upon which improvements in the relationships could be based. This was followed by a survey to find the performance gap between the quality of service that was expected from the franchisor and what the franchisees were actually receiving. Five dimensions of service quality – tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy were empirically investigated. The findings of this research revealed that the quality of service of franchisors fell short in all dimensions. It is arguable that other aspects of quality are being neglected by the franchisors. It is against this backdrop that a model is proposed to improve the quality of service in the franchise relationships. The model incorporates contemporary ideas on quality. Principles of total quality management, quality function deployment, customer satisfaction and self-assessment are applied to the franchise relationship. The use of the model will contribute towards better relationships in the franchise sector