Franchisee Dynamics; Can Franchisees be Entrepreneurial?

Franchisees only bought the right to operate our stores under the trademark. That’s it. We own the trademark, and their only responsibility is to us, to follow our system and methods. What we have come to realize is that franchisees aren’t entrepreneurs; they might think they are entrepreneurs, but they’re not. If they really were entrepreneurs, they’d go out and start their own business, Birkeland (2002). • The Franchisor and the franchisee mutually need each other to achieve profits, Paik and Choi (2007). • Franchisors foresee autonomy to occur at some point and they draw on a broad range of mechanisms to manage this expectancy, Dada (2018). The above quotes demonstrate how franchisor thinking and understanding have evolved since the start of the twenty-first century. This study explores the concept of Entrepreneurial Franchisees and specifically sets out, by way of a case study to discover if there is scope for a franchisee to be Entrepreneurial within the bounds and constraints of a Franchise Agreement/contract. The three semi-structured interviews conducted resulted in evidence that supports the theory of the existence of franchisee entrepreneurial behaviour. During this research a number of areas of interest were identified, which were outside the scope of this study. In addition, as this case study provides a solid base, further research into the franchisor/ franchisee dynamic, within agency theory can be explored