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Enforcing System Standards When Franchisees Have Long-Term Contracts

By Kevin Adler
January 04, 2006

A franchisor's ability to enforce system standards and sustain the positive image of the brand is critical to the long-term success of a franchising system. To some degree, a franchisor's threat of termination or non-renewal contributes to that enforcement effect. But what can a franchisor do when a contract has a long duration and/or a franchisee has a strong legal presumption of renewal?

Two professors at the University of Munster (Munster, Germany) found significant modifications in a franchise's governance structure, as defined by its contract with franchisees, when a franchisor's capacity to threaten termination or non-renewal is significantly limited. The findings of Profs. Oliver Cochet and Thomas Ehrmann were presented in a paper at the 19th Annual Conference of the Inter-national Society of Franchising last year, “The Effectiveness of Con-tractual Self-Enforcement and Implications for the Governance Structure of Franchising Firms.”

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