Shifting the Frontier of Control: Small Firm Autonomy within a Franchise

Abstract

DR. ALAN FELSTEAD IS A RESEARCH Associate at the Centre for Labour Market Studies, University of Leicester, England. Before that he was a Research Officer at Nuffield College, University of Oxford, where the research for this paper was conducted. The paper examines the extent to which small firms can enjoy autonomy within a franchise setting as well as investigating how and why this might change. The paper is based on a study of one of the world's largest and oldest franchise users the Coca-Cola Company. In particular, attention is focused on the reasons why the Coca-Cola Company's original franchise structure in Germany had by the 1980s outlived its usefulness. It also considers the nature of the reshaped franchise structure which was put in its place and the consequences this had for franchisee autonomy. An expanded and more detailed version of this paper can be found in his book, The Corporate Paradox: Power and Control in the Business Franchise, London: Routledge, 1993.

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