Stephen Choo, Tim Mazzarol and Geoff Soutar
Although international franchising has occurred in East Asia over the past 20 years, surprisingly very little academic research has been undertaken to understand key dynamics of…
Abstract
Purpose
Although international franchising has occurred in East Asia over the past 20 years, surprisingly very little academic research has been undertaken to understand key dynamics of this marketing phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to examine franchise resources, which is a key construct in the internationalization of retail franchising.
Design/methodology/approach
A multiple case study approach has been adopted to generate rich data designed to aid understanding of the complexities inherent within such an international marketing relationship. The data were drawn from five US food service retail franchises, which are household brands across East Asia, operating in Singapore.
Findings
This study presents several interesting findings for the retail franchise industry. First, consistent with resource scarcity theory, international franchising relationship begins with a high degree of franchise dependency on the local franchisees. Next, international franchisors will be well served to select their overseas franchisees with strong financial resources to engage in rapid expansion, good contacts to secure early stores in prime retail locations and well‐proven local knowledge to modify the concept to suit particular market needs.
Practical implications
Findings from this study have important managerial implications for international retail franchisors on how to effectively select franchisees to successfully launch and manage their brands in East Asia.
Originality/value
This empirical study has made a major contribution in adding to the limited body of empirical knowledge on franchisee selection in international retail franchising, particularly in East Asia. It is hoped that this paper will encourage more academics to investigate why certain international retail franchise concepts perform relatively better in East Asia than others.
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Stephen Choo and Christine Bowley
A review of the literature on franchising has revealed a significant lack of academic research on employee training in franchise systems. Further, most research in this area…
Abstract
Purpose
A review of the literature on franchising has revealed a significant lack of academic research on employee training in franchise systems. Further, most research in this area tended to focus on training for franchises as part of the overall package. This study seeks to address the shortfall of research in this area by investigating the influence of training and development on an employee's job satisfaction at one of Australia's fastest growing franchises.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collected data from 135 frontline staff at one of Australia's largest bakery retail franchises. The data were gathered by means of a structured questionnaire, 16 items of which were devoted to an evaluation of the organisation's training and development programmes and six items were dedicated to job satisfaction.
Findings
There are several key findings for this study. First, the effectiveness and efficacy of a training program are dependent on evaluation of training quality, course design and learning experience. Next, employee satisfaction is found to be influenced by work environment, company values and job responsibilities.
Practical implications
Findings from this study have important managerial implications for retail franchisers and individual franchisees on how to enhance the job satisfaction of employees by the provision of effective training and development programmes.
Originality/value
This empirical study has made a major contribution in adding to the limited body of empirical knowledge on the influence of training and development on job satisfaction in retail franchising. It is hoped that this paper will encourage more academics to investigate the impact of training and development on job satisfaction and retention in franchising.
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Investigates the purchase of industrial real estate by small to medium enterprises. Using a three‐stage methodology, examined the views of a stakeholder panel, then drew a sample…
Abstract
Investigates the purchase of industrial real estate by small to medium enterprises. Using a three‐stage methodology, examined the views of a stakeholder panel, then drew a sample of 450 firms ranging from micro‐businesses to large firms and examined the importance of various factors likely to influence the attractiveness of an industrial site. A focus group comprising members of an expert panel was then convened to discuss the findings. Highlights the subjective decision‐making associated with the smaller firms in comparison with the “buying centre” objectivity of the larger firms. Owner‐managers from micro and small firms were motivated by such personal issues as the proximity of the industrial site to their home, rather than access to transport routes or freight terminals. The findings suggest that government and private sector agencies seeking to develop and market industrial land need to devote more time to understanding the needs of small firms. Also discusses implications for future research.
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I show that the equilibrium distribution of matches associated with the empirical transferable utility one-to-one matching (TUM) model introduced by Choo and Siow (2006a, 2006b)…
Abstract
I show that the equilibrium distribution of matches associated with the empirical transferable utility one-to-one matching (TUM) model introduced by Choo and Siow (2006a, 2006b) corresponds to the fixed point of system of
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We provide a geometric formulation of the problem of identification of the matching surplus function and we show how the estimation problem can be solved by the introduction of a…
Abstract
We provide a geometric formulation of the problem of identification of the matching surplus function and we show how the estimation problem can be solved by the introduction of a generalized entropy function over the set of matchings.
Montserrat Garcia‐Alsina, Eva Ortoll and Josep Cobarsí‐Morales
This paper has a twofold aim. Firstly, to give some insight into competitive intelligence practices in a little‐explored area in the field of competitive intelligence: the higher…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper has a twofold aim. Firstly, to give some insight into competitive intelligence practices in a little‐explored area in the field of competitive intelligence: the higher education sector. Secondly, to find out more about the factors influencing competitive intelligence practices, since little research on this subject has been published.
Design/methodology/approach
The investigation used a mixed‐methods approach, including face‐to‐face, semi structured interviews with 47 university managers (degree coordinators, deans and vice‐rectors), followed by a semi‐structured questionnaire carried out with 400 degree coordinators and deans and analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The interviews informed the questionnaire design.
Findings
The survey confirms the proposed framework's usefulness for analysing the enabler and inhibitor factors in an organisation for promoting efficient competitive intelligence practice and also gives some insight into which factors enable or inhibit the efficacy of competitive intelligence practices in Spanish universities.
Research limitations/implications
The research focused on degree design adapted to the EHEA. A larger study designed to focus on other management areas in universities would provide a fuller picture of factors influencing competitive intelligence practices.
Practical implications
The findings indicate the areas where universities could plan actions to optimise intelligence activities, make the most of them and stand out from the rest.
Originality/value
This paper sets out a framework to describe factors related to intelligence function and cycle. In addition, the study reveals which indicators act as enablers or inhibitors for competitive intelligence practices and takes account of some of the particular features of the higher education sector.
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This paper aims to forecast the changing roles of librarians – especially catalogers and metadata specialists – in today's technology‐driven research, teaching, and learning…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to forecast the changing roles of librarians – especially catalogers and metadata specialists – in today's technology‐driven research, teaching, and learning environments, in which information seekers behave more and more self‐sufficiently and move well beyond library collections in their pursuit of information.
Design/methodology/approach
Places the roles of librarians and library collections in the larger context of knowledge management and campus information network processes, which occur in every knowledge community, with or without a library. Explores and provides examples of how knowledge creators can collaborate with information technology experts and librarians to transform how faculty members teach and conduct research; how students learn; and how libraries support these activities.
Findings
Librarians need to make their collections and services much more visible through human and technological interconnections and greatly improved delivery of information content. Metadata and metadata specialists are strategic assets for libraries, but the service model for cataloging faces critical challenges. Two tables list these challenges and the implications for metadata specialists.
Originality/value
Offers new observations and insights into how librarians can continue to contribute to saving information seekers' time and advancing the state of knowledge in the increasingly interconnected world of the web. Drawing from the larger context of the global infosphere, information‐seeking behavior, and changing roles for library collections and information systems, forecasts the role of metadata and metadata specialists in libraries.
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This chapter focuses on South Korea’s newly found regional leadership, as the emergent middle power of East Asia, in order to advance regional integration and…
Abstract
This chapter focuses on South Korea’s newly found regional leadership, as the emergent middle power of East Asia, in order to advance regional integration and institution-building. Policy leadership is observed and analyzed from an international lens, linked to the literature of middle powers. The chapter first conceptualizes middle powers in connection with the issue of international leadership, since such states often play important roles in promoting cooperation. The chapter looks especially into South Korea’s foreign policy behavior toward East Asian regional processes and how it has manifested innovative and capable leadership. More specifically, the last three presidencies of Kim Dae-jung (1998–2002), Roh Moo-hyun (2003–2008), and Lee Myung-bak (2008–2013) are scrutinized in the hope of underscoring how their particular administrations, political leadership, and strategic approaches to foreign policy toward the region influenced South Korea’s regional leadership attempts and middle power status.
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Taking an intersectional approach, this chapter makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to the study of mothers’ movements in the context of social welfare cutbacks in…
Abstract
Taking an intersectional approach, this chapter makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to the study of mothers’ movements in the context of social welfare cutbacks in Israel. I argue that the political use of the maternal identity provides an important cultural resource to women’s social movements, yet all women cannot access this advantage equally. By adding an intersectional perspective to the literature on women’s movements and media debates, this empirical study shows that the ability of different groups of women to politically mobilize their maternal identity in the news is impacted by their class and racial backgrounds. I focus on Israel as an ambiguous case that reflects both the political relevance of maternal identity as mobilized by different political actors, as well as the intersectional dynamics of marginalization of women’s movements within contentious media debates about austerity policies. Using critical discourse analysis, I analyzed 268 newspaper articles that discuss the Israeli Single Mothers’ Movement, a welfare rights movement of low-income women of color (Mizrahi). I find two competing frames converging across the newspapers analyzed: the first draws on a nationalist discourse of the “mother of the nation” to present a positive image of a heroic “mothers’ movement”; the second draws on racist and sexist images to negatively frame activists as a “Mizrahi movement” of undeserving poor mothers. I show how the contested construction of the Single Mothers’ Movement in the news media is directly connected to hegemonic Israeli discourse on motherhood and ethnicity, and demonstrate how this shapes the movement’s public image and its political and feminist value.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide library managers with the ability to recognize and address World 2.0 information issues to enhance their ability to develop management…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide library managers with the ability to recognize and address World 2.0 information issues to enhance their ability to develop management plans for the future.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper explores what World 2.0 means to library managers in three ways. Three information dimensions are identified using models to examine World 2.0 in a historical context. An analysis is conducted of the different generations of users in World 2.0 including their diverse attitudes, beliefs, experiences and skills and how these influence their engagement with the information environment. Four key characteristics of Web 2.0 are identified through an analysis of Web 2.0 in relation to World 2.0.
Findings
Key findings in this paper are that: three dimensions of information in World 2.0 exist and can be used by library managers to help them understand the challenges and to facilitate the construction of strategic management plans that address them. Generational and organizational perspectives of World 2.0 can influence how libraries engage Web 2.0, and should be considered when library managers make strategic management plans for the future. The four characteristics of Web 2.0 create considerations for library managers during their planning processes.
Originality/value
This paper is of interest because it provides library managers with a thorough understanding of World 2.0 and how it may influence their libraries and their users so they can make more informed, more successful planning choices.