Franchisees' level of satisfaction with the franchise relationship

Abstract

Problem investigated and objectives: Franchisees often complain that franchisors do not meet their needs, and are generally viewed as being unhappy with the franchise relationship between franchisees and franchisors. The aim of this paper is to investigate the level of satisfaction of franchisees with the franchise relationship, including the following elements: franchisee independence, support with the selection of a distribution point, allocation of geographical trading areas, support with the design and layout of distribution points, comprehensive training programmes, the provision of continuous market and product information and operational support, and advertising and financial support, including systems for bookkeeping. Approach: The data represents two groups of the same franchise, namely franchisees operating for two years and less as franchisees and franchisees who have been operating for longer than two years as franchisees. The extent to which these two groups view the relationship elements differently will be examined. Findings: The findings indicate that both groups had a high level of satisfaction with the franchise relationship between franchisees and franchisors, with the exception of identified opportunities, which could be further developed in order to increase the franchisees' level of satisfaction with the franchise relationship between franchisees and franchisors. Conclusion: In view of the results of this research, it was concluded that the franchisees of the selected franchisor in the franchise industry displayed a high level of satisfaction with the franchise relationship between franchisors and franchisees.