Internationalization, Plural Form and Risk in Franchising:
A Bi-Country Analysis of U.S. and French Networks
Rozenn PERRIGOT
Graduate School of Business Administration (IGR-IAE), University of Rennes 1
Center for Research in Economics and Management (CREM UMR CNRS 6211)
ESC Rennes School of Business
11 rue Jean Macé, CS 70803, 35708 Rennes Cedex, France
Email: rozenn.perrigot@univ-rennes1.fr
and
Sevgin EROGLU
Department of Marketing
Robinson College of Business
Georgia State University
35 Broad Street
Atlanta, GA 30307, USA
E-mail: seroglu@gsu.edu
2009 International Society of Franchising Conference
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Internationalization, Plural Form and Risk in Franchising:
A Bi-Country Analysis of U.S. and French Networks
Abstract
While two important topics often explored in the franchising literature are network
internationalization and plural form, to date, these two potentially interrelated research
streams have not yet converged. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship
between plural form and internationalization of franchise networks. Introducing the notion of
risk into this exploration, the present study hypothesizes a negative relationship between the
two constructs. An empirical study involving 898 U.S. and French networks confirms this
expectation. Indeed, the plural form rate for networks with operations abroad is lower
compared to their domestic counterparts for the combined data and among French networks.
The results of the logistic regression models underline the significant and negative impact of
the plural form on internationalization for both of these samples. Interestingly, these findings
are insignificant in the U.S. context. The study also highlights significant differences between
international and purely domestic networks in terms of plural form. The paper concludes with
implications for theory and practice in the area of international franchising and plural form.
Keywords: Franchising, internationalization, plural form, risk, bi-country study, U.S., France.
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