Conceptualizing franchisation: understanding local processes

There is little doubt as to the importance of franchising within all modern global economies. Yet, little is understood with regards the actual impact of franchising on local economies. This research aims to reframe the contribution of franchising by considering the process of franchisation. It will be shown that the survival of local firms can be influenced positively by the day to day actions of franchise operators. However, it is argued that to understand how any such advantage my fall to local independent firms, we must first better appreciate the multitude of local processes related to such industries. To this end, this research re-examines several ecological concepts with the view of enabling a clearer investigation of underlying local processes.