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Abstract

THOMAS DANDRIDGE IS DIRECTOR OF THE Small Business Institute at the University of Albany, State University of New York. He and Dr. Cecilia M. Falbe have conducted extensive research into the franchising relationship. Franchising is an evolving organisational form with broad implications for the ways decisions are made and implemented within a large enterprise. The pervasiveness and the important roles of advisory councils are emerging participative features of management in franchised systems. This paper describes some of their impacts and looks in detail at the characteristics, functions, and importance of franchise advisory councils. It describes the results of a study of 114 franchisors who provided information on the characteristics and objectives of their advisory councils. The results provide support for the use by franchisors of the advisory council as a mechanism for channelling entrepreneurial activity directly to the franchise system.

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The Influence of Franchisees beyond Their Local Domain

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