Mind mapping the topic of international joint venture

Mind mapping the topic of international joint venture (IJV)

Joseph Kim-keung Ho

Independent Trainer

Hong Kong, China

Abstract: The topic of international joint venture (IJV) is a main one in global business management. This article makes use of the mind mapping-based literature review (MMBLR) approach to render an image on the knowledge structure of international joint venture. The finding of the review exercise is that its knowledge structure comprises four main themes, i.e., (a) Definitions of basic concepts, (b) Major underlying theories and thinking, (c) Main research topics and issues, and (d) Major trends and issues related to practices. There is also a set of key concepts identified from the IJV literature review. The article offers some academic and pedagogical values on the topics of IJV, literature review and the mind mapping-based literature review (MMBLR) approach.

Key words: International joint venture (IJV), literature review, mind map, the mind mapping-based literature review (MMBLR) approach, global business management

Introduction

International joint venture (IJV) is a main topic in global business management. It is of academic and pedagogical interest to the writer who has been a lecturer on global business management for some tertiary education centres in Hong Kong. In this article, the writer presents his literature review findings on IJV using the mind mapping-based literature review (MMBLR) approach. This approach was proposed by this writer this year and has been employed to review the literature on a number of topics, such as supply chain management, strategic management accounting and customer relationship management (Ho, 2016). The MMBLR approach itself is not particularly novel since mind mapping has been employed in literature review since its inception. The overall aims of this exercise are to:

1.      Render an image of the knowledge structure of international joint venture  (IJV) via the application of the MMBLR approach;

2.      Illustrate how the MMBLR approach can be applied in literature review on an academic topic, such as IJV.

The findings from this literature review exercise offer academic and pedagogical values to those who are interested in the topics of IJV, literature review and the MMBLR approach. Other than that, this exercise facilitates this writer’s intellectual learning on these three topics. The next section makes a brief introduction on the MMBLR approach. After that, an account of how it is applied to study IJV is presented.

On mind mapping-based literature review

The mind mapping-based literature review (MMBLR) approach was developed by this writer this year (Ho, 2016). It makes use of mind mapping as a complementary literature review exercise (see the Literature on mind mapping Facebook page and the Literature on literature review Facebook page). The approach is made up of two steps. Step 1 is a thematic analysis on the literature of the topic chosen for study. Step 2 makes use of the findings from step 1 to produce a complementary mind map. The MMBLR approach is a relatively straightforward and brief exercise. The approach is not particularly original since the idea of using mind maps in literature review has been well recognized in the mind mapping literature. The MMBLR approach is also an interpretive exercise in the sense that different reviewers with different research interest and intellectual background inevitably will select different ideas, facts and findings in their thematic analysis (i.e., step 1 of the MMBLR approach). Also, to conduct the approach, the reviewer needs to perform a literature search beforehand. Apparently, what a reviewer gathers from a literature search depends on what library facility, including e-library, is available to the reviewer. The next section presents the findings from the MMBLR approach step 1; afterward, a companion mind map is provided based on the MMBLR approach step 1 findings.

Mind mapping-based literature review on international joint venture (IJV): step 1 findings

Step 1 of the MMBLR approach is a thematic analysis on the literature of the topic under investigation (Ho, 2016). In our case, this is the IJV topic. The writer gathers some academic articles from some universities’ e-libraries as well as via the Google Scholar. With the academic articles collected, the writer conducted a literature review on them to assemble a set of ideas, viewpoints, concepts and findings (called points here). The points from the IJV literature are then grouped into four themes here. The key words in the quotations are bolded in order to highlight the key concepts involved.

Theme 1: Definitions of basic concepts

Point 1.1.              “International joint ventures (IJVs) are a form of international cooperative agreement which bring together two or more firms to engage in a joint activity, to which each member contributes resources and hopes to extract resources of higher value” (Beamish and Berdrow, 2003);

Point 1.2.              “International joint ventures (IJVs) are separate legal organizational entities partially held by parent firms originating from different countries” (Nippa, Beechler and Klossek, 2007);

Point 1.3.              “An equity international joint venture (EIJV) is a separate legal organizational entity representing the partial holdings of two or more parent firms, in which the headquarters of at least one is located outside the country of operation of the joint venture. This entity is subject to the joint control of its parent firms, each of which is economically and legally independent of the other” (Newburry and Zeira, 1997);

Point 1.4.              “Joint ventures can be defined as legally and economically separate organizational entities partially held by parent organizations that collectively contribute resources to pursue strategic objectives …. Accordingly, international joint ventures (IJVs) constitute an organizational form founded and run by independent parent organizations from different countries” (Nemeth and Nippa, 2013);

Theme 2: Major underlying theories and thinking

Point 2.1.              “...learning in an IJV network has been viewed primarily as a transfer of knowledge between partners and from the partners to the IJV” (Beamish and Berdrow, 2003);

Point 2.2.              “An MNC faces numerous possibilities when investing abroad. International acquisitions (IAs) are currently the most popular form of net investment worldwide for American MNCs, except in the Asia/Pacific Rim where equity international joint ventures (EIJVs) are favored … International greenfield investments (IGIs) represent a viable alternative to these two venture types when suitable partners are unavailable, when desirable acquisition candidates do not exist, or when firms possess ownership advantages which they wish to protect” (Newburry and Zeira, 1997);

Point 2.3.              “Parkhe and Kim stress the role of ‘relational efforts’ by companies to moderate the influence of functional diversity on the performance of IJVs and include communication, mutual adaptation and cross-cultural training” (Mohr and Puck, 2005);

Point 2.4.              “The [IJV] network as an organizational form offers three types of learning opportunities. The first is the transfer of established knowledge. The second is transformation, the synthesis of contributed resources. The third type is the process of harvesting newly created knowledge from the network, providing internationalization capabilities to alliance partners” (Beamish and Berdrow, 2003);

Point 2.5.              “With foreign partners distanced from their national institutions, this isolates any cultural influence on strategies” (Buck, Liu and Ott, 2012);

Point 2.6.              “…. a wide range of factors of importance for the success of IJVs. These factors include: control, ownership structure, bargaining power, knowledge management, partnering skills, commitment and trust. A number of authors have suggested that inter-company diversity, i.e. the differences that exist between partners, also plays an important role in determining the outcome of international strategic alliance in general, and of IJVs in particular” (Mohr and Puck, 2005);

Point 2.7.              “….perspectives emphasizing the risk of appropriation and opportunism (e.g., transaction cost economics ….) accentuate the need for MNEs to ensure sufficiently high levels of control needed to allow them to confidently transfer advanced knowledge to the IJV for improved IJV productivity …. Perspectives stressing value creation (e.g., the knowledge-based perspective …), on the other hand, tend to place greater emphasis on the need for IJVs to have high levels of collaboration between MNEs and their local partners to ensure local partner engagement (a motivational issue) and local partner resource commitment (a mobilization issue), both of which are seen as critical for the successful utilization of knowledge transferred from the MNE to the IJV” (Li, Zhou, and Zajac, 2009);

Point 2.8.              “…intent guides behaviors by establishing desired outcomes.  Intent was found to be an important determinant of the efforts a firm puts into learning from a JV partner and the evolution of learning. Intent will arguably affect the resources that the parent contributes to the IJV, the controls put on the activities of the IJV, the evaluation of its performance and outcomes, and the degree to which the parent learns from the IJV” (Beamish and Berdrow, 2003);

Point 2.9.              “…principal agent theory … focuses on problems and risks inherent in delegation due to interest divergence, asymmetric information and opportunistic behaviour. In order to reduce or eliminate these inefficiencies, agency theory proposes different means such as goal alignment or imposing control structures” (Nippa, Beechler and Klossek, 2007);

Point 2.10.         “…specific IJV challenges have been frequently highlighted: Firstly, IJVs are prone to parental conflict, governance problems and cultural clashes …. and are easily destabilized by the changing strategies or objectives of one of their founding parent firms … Secondly, IJVs are unstable because they are frequently founded as temporary or intermediary organizations” (Nemeth and Nippa, 2013);

Point 2.11.         “…the relationship between foreign equity ownership and IJV productivity would not necessarily be a simple linear positive one; instead, we posit that control benefits associated with foreign ownership will increase, but at a decreasing rate, after the MNE has passed the threshold of holding a majority ownership level” (Li, Zhou, and Zajac, 2009);

Point 2.12.         “According to the resource-based view of the firm …, combining complementary resources in order to create competitive advantages for the founding partners is a major reason for forming IJVs” (Nippa, Beechler and Klossek, 2007);

Point 2.13.         “Acquiring knowledge has been reported as a primary motivation for forming JVs in numerous studies, as was the need for partner skills, and the need for local market knowledge” (Beamish and Berdrow, 2003);

Point 2.14.         “Cross-border strategic alliances are essentially cooperative activities in which companies share a certain set of skills. Such activities and skills include capital investment, transfer and management of knowledge and practices, technology transfer, and, not least, the exposure to cultural features that persist in the form of management behavior, style, and techniques” (Demir and Söderman, 2007);

Point 2.15.         “In an EIJV, the percentage ownership split can differ significantly from EIJVs with equal ownership by all partners to ones with unbalanced ownership patterns. Hence, control must be shared by the parent companies. Also, differences in the level of equity ownership have implications regarding the dominance of each parent” (Newburry and Zeira, 1997);

Point 2.16.         “Past literature on IJVs …. recognizes the control exercised by the parents over the IJV as a significant determinant of performance” (Selekler-Gökşen, and Uysal-Tezölmez, 2007);

Point 2.17.         “Professional expertise in marketing, like in other functional areas of management, requires substantial knowledge about facts (know-what) and procedures (know-how) … The integration of marketing know-what and know-how is especially meaningful in the context of IJVs in a transitional economy” (Evangelista and Hau, 2009);

Point 2.18.         “Some have suggested that IJV productivity derives from the MNEs’ contribution of valuable firm-specific advantages to the local IJVs, such as sophisticated technology, manufacturing skills, and managerial expertise …, but concerns are raised about the potential loss of transferred knowledge from MNEs to local partners” (Li, Zhou, and Zajac, 2009);

Point 2.19.         “The issue of trust is culture bound, and in some circumstances, a company may be willing to enter into an EIJV without trusting its partners if the perceived benefits from the EIJV outweigh the risks. However, this strategy does not seem appropriate for EIJVs with a long-term focus” (Newburry and Zeira, 1997);

Point 2.20.         “There are essentially four principal means of foreign market entry: (1) exporting; (2) licensing; (3) joint-venture partnering; and (4) wholly-owned foreign investment” (Gilmore, O’Donnell, Carson and Cummins, 2003);

Point 2.21.         “Transaction cost theory ... is used to propose and verify the economic rationale embedded in different entry modes such as licensing, contractual or equity joint ventures and wholly foreign-owned subsidiaries” (Nippa, Beechler and Klossek, 2007);

Point 2.22.         “… several sources have indicated that IJVs are particularly fragile, unstable business organizations … that perform poorly and often cause dissatisfaction on the part of the parent firms” (Nemeth and Nippa, 2013);

Theme 3: Main research topics and issues

Point 3.1.              “…while the importance of gathering performance assessments from all partners of a IJV is regularly acknowledged …., most existing studies have analysed and measured the performance of IJVs mainly from the MNE’s perspective. Performance indicators that may be of greater relevance to the local partner firm have been neglected” (Mohr, 2006);

Point 3.2.              “….no study has so far provided an overview and a critical discussion of how IJV exit determinants might vary in the light of different termination modes. … the quality and practical relevance of research insights of the existing IJV exit literature is limited by empirical and methodological shortcomings. Research, for instance, is dominated by studies that use archival data only, prefer cross-sectional rather than longitudinal analyses, and investigate IJV exit only from one partner’s viewpoint” (Nemeth and Nippa, 2013);

Point 3.3.              “…most existing IJV performance constructs are geared towards companies from developed countries without taking into consideration the perspective of IJV partners from developing countries” (Mohr and Puck, 2005);

Point 3.4.              “…the resource-based view (RBV) directs research interests to tangible or intangible resources as main drivers of IJV success” (Nippa, Beechler and Klossek, 2007);

Point 3.5.              “Although the great majority of empirical IJV studies do provide problem specific literature reviews …, they neither develop nor refer to a comprehensive framework” (Nippa, Beechler and Klossek, 2007);

Point 3.6.              “For decades, IJVs have been an important organizational alternative for firms pursuing internationalization and market entry strategies… that have particularly stimulated scholars’ research interests because levels of success and efficiency have varied greatly” (Nemeth and Nippa, 2013);

Point 3.7.              “Legitimacy is formally defined as “a generalized perception or assumption that the actions of an entity are desirable, proper, or appropriate within some socially constructed system of norms, values, beliefs, and definitions ….  Regardless of this importance of legitimacy as a requisite for local market penetration, we know little about how foreign firms can build legitimacy for their IJVs and how the earned legitimacy enables IJVs to penetrate local markets” (Alcantara, Mitsuhashi and Hoshino, 2006);

Point 3.8.              “While the numbers of IJVs are increasing, our understanding of how to achieve high performance through international partnerships such as IJVs is still limited” (Beamish and Berdrow, 2003);

Point 3.9.              “….there are three categories of institutions: regulatory (rules and laws that exist to ensure stability and order in societies), normative (social values, cultures and norms) and cognitive (established cognitive structures in society that are taken for granted)…. investigating the strategic behavior of IJV foreign parent is a good way to comprehend the reaction of firms with liability of foreignness to the institutional variation” (Li, Li and Liu, 2013);

Point 3.10.         “…the failure to adequately differentiate between intended and unintended IJV termination leads to bias, inconsistent findings, and, ultimately, inadequate conclusions” (Nemeth and Nippa, 2013);

Point 3.11.         “A review of existing research on JV performance shows little agreement on how to conceptualise IJV performance, although many researchers suggest that it is a multi-dimensional phenomenon” (Mohr and Puck, 2005);

Theme 4: Major trends and issues related to practices

Point 4.1.              “….forming joint ventures in China is no easy undertaking. Foreign companies are compelled to comply with a painful management process, encounter a myriad of problems and difficulties that range from external environmental problems to internal organisational conflicts of interest ….  The partners in IJVs may also wish to impose their own practices and use contractual and noncontractual resource power, internationalisation expertise and operational consistency requirements to gain relative decision advantage” (Lau, Chan, Tai and Ng, 2009);

Point 4.2.              “…expansion into emerging countries is a difficult decision because, while there are many opportunities for increasing profits, there are also many risks involved. These risks are due to the specific environmental uncertainty of emerging countries. In particular, a significant proportion of these risks is related to the political and economic uncertainty of these countries: government instability, political turmoil, debt default or rescheduling, fluctuating currency rates, discriminatory tax systems, and corruption” (Meschi, 2005);

Point 4.3.              “…functional differences have a negative impact on JV performance as their existence reduces the efficiency of the IJV operation in a number of ways” (Mohr and Puck, 2005);

Point 4.4.              “…the underlying strategy for Chinese firms to establish partnerships, such as joint ventures and strategic alliances, with foreign multinational enterprises (MNE) is ‘‘to extract and internalize the skills of their partners and thus either improve their own competitive position or reduce their partner’s capability for autonomous action within and outside the partnership’’.” (Demir and Söderman, 2007);

Point 4.5.              “Blodgett …. and Geringer and Hebert … have attributed this performance problem of IJVs to the lack of appropriate organizational control systems and effective mobilization of resources between partnering firms” (Alcantara, Mitsuhashi and Hoshino, 2006);

Point 4.6.              “In general, ….joint ventures involving expansion into emerging countries are formed and organized as follows: the foreign partner provides the joint venture with upstream resources such as funding, brand and production technology …., and the local partner provides downstream resources such as awareness of local markets, access to distribution channels, personnel …., knowledge of local regulations and preferential access to the State authorities” (Meschi, 2005);

Point 4.7.              “… engaging in a joint venture with a local firm is the only way to invest in markets that are already very competitive and crowded … Furthermore, in some countries equity ownership laws prohibit wholly owned foreign investment and so joint ventures are the only way that companies can invest in the region” (Gilmore, O’Donnell, Carson and Cummins, 2003);

Point 4.8.              “…expatriates running Sino-Western joint ventures have considerable problems in developing personal relationships” (Demir and Söderman, 2007);

Point 4.9.              “…it is important for EIJV partners to sustain their trusting relationship. One way to accomplish this is by avoiding abrupt changes in personnel by one partner after the other partner has gained a familiarity with a given management team” (Newburry and Zeira, 1997);

Point 4.10.         “…many IJVs – particularly in developing countries … – suffer from unsatisfactory performance and serious management problems” (Nippa, Beechler and Klossek, 2007);

Point 4.11.         “A firm that considers itself to benefit less from an IJV than its partner may increase its efforts to exert control over the venture and/or demand to be compensated by the other side for this lower performance” (Mohr, 2006);

Point 4.12.         “EIJV negotiations between potential partners generally do not have time limits and may sometimes last for several years” (Newburry and Zeira, 1997);

Point 4.13.         “IJVs are legally and economically distinct entities created by two or more organizations, at least one of which is headquartered in another country …. This hybrid, intercultural, interorganizational form of organization often suffers from high manager turnover rates, which are catastrophic to the venture's operation and performance” (Li, 2008);

Point 4.14.         “Marketing knowledge acquisition in IJVs is especially important in the context of transition economies. … As these countries move towards an open market economy, consumers are becoming more affluent. They are demanding to the extent that local firms are finding themselves in need of more sophisticated technological, management and marketing know-how” (Evangelista and Hau, 2009);

Point 4.15.         “Two of the major constraints that foreign firms confront when entering and penetrating local markets are the lack of local knowledge ….and access to local resources …. An important and often-used means of overcoming these constraints is the formation of international joint ventures (IJVs)” (Alcantara, Mitsuhashi and Hoshino, 2006);

Point 4.16.         “IJV parent firms can terminate an IJV in three ways: (1) selling its stake to the other parents, (2) selling its stake to a third party, or (3) liquidating the venture” (Nemeth and Nippa, 2013);

Point 4.17.         “In order to avoid the liability of foreignness, foreign firms prefer to choose joint venture as the mode to enter the local market, and these firms will prefer wholly owned subsidiary only after they have removed the liability of foreignness” (Li, Li and Liu, 2013);

Each of them has a set of associated points (i.e., idea, viewpoints, concepts and findings). Together they provide an organized way to comprehend the knowledge structure of the international joint venture (IJV) topic. The bolded key words in the quotation reveal, based on the writer’s intellectual judgement, the key concepts examined in the IJV literature. The referencing indicated on the points identified informs the readers where to find the academic articles to learn more about the details on these points; readers are also referred to the Literature on joint venture Facebook page. The process of conducting the thematic analysis is an exploratory as well as synthetic learning endeavour on the topic’s literature. Once the structure of the themes, sub-themes[1] and their associated points are finalized, the reviewer is in a position to move forward to step 2 of the MMBLR approach. The MMBLR approach step 2 finding, i.e., a companion mind map on IJV, is presented in the next section.

Mind mapping-based literature review on IJV: step 2 (mind mapping) output

By adopting the findings from the MMBLR approach step 1 on international joint venture (IJV), the writer constructs a companion mind map shown as Figure 1.

Referring to the mind map on IJV, the topic label is shown right at the centre of the map as a large blob. Four main branches are attached to it, corresponding to the four themes identified in the thematic analysis. The links and ending nodes with key phrases represent the points from the thematic analysis. The key phrases have also been bolded in the quotations provided in the thematic analysis. As a whole, the mind map renders an image of the knowledge structure on IJV based on the thematic analysis findings. Constructing the mind map is part of the learning process on literature review. The mind mapping process is speedy and entertaining. The resultant mind map also serves as a useful presentation and teaching material. This mind mapping experience confirms the writer’s previous experience using on the MMBLR approach (Ho, 2016). Readers are also referred to the Literature on literature review Facebook page and the Literature on mind mapping Facebook page for additional information on these two topics.

Concluding remarks

The MMBLR approach to study IJV provided here is mainly for its practice illustration as its procedures have been refined via a number of its employment on an array of topics (Ho, 2016). No major additional MMBLR steps nor notions have been introduced in this article. In this respect, the exercise reported here primarily offers some pedagogical value as well as some systematic and stimulated learning on international joint venture (IJV) in global business management. Nevertheless, the thematic findings and the image of the knowledge structure on IJV in the form of a mind map should also be of academic value to those who research on this topic.

Bibliography

1.      Alcantara, L., H. Mitsuhashi and Y. Hoshino. 2006. “Legitimacy in international joint ventures: It is still needed” Journal of International Management 12, Elsevier: 389-407.

2.      Beamish, P. and I. Berdrow. 2003. “Learning from IJVs: The Unintended Outcome” Long Range Planning 36, Pergamon: 285-303.

3.      Buck, T., X. Liu and U. Ott. 2012. “Long-term orientation and international joint venture strategies in modern China” International Business Review 19, Elsevier: 223-234.

4.      Demir, R. and S. Söderman. 2007. “Skills and complexity in management of IJVs:  Exploring Swedish managers’ experiences in China” International Business Review 16, Elsevier: 229-250.

5.      Evangelista, F. and L.N. Hau. 2009. “Organizational context and knowledge acquisition in IJVs: an empirical study” Journal of World Business 44, Elsevier: 63-73.

6.      Gilmore, A., A. O’Donnell, D. Carson and D. Cummins. 2003. “Factors influencing foreign direct investment and international joint ventures” International Marketing Review 20(2), Emerald: 195-215.

7.      Ho, J.K.K. 2016. Mind mapping for literature review – a ebook, Joseph KK Ho publication folder October 7 (url address: http://josephkkho.blogspot.hk/2016/10/mind-mapping-for-literature-review-ebook.html).

8.      Lau, T., K.F. Chan, S.H.C. Tai and D.K.C. Ng. (2009),"Corporate entrepreneurship of IJVs in China" Management Research Review 33(1): 6 – 22.

9.      Li, J., C. Zhou, and E.J. Zajac. 2009. “Control, collaboration, and productivity in international joint ventures: theory and evidence” Strategic Management Journal 30, Wiley: 865-884.

10. Li, J.J. 2008. “How to retain local senior managers in international joint ventures: The effects of alliance relationship characteristics” Journal of Business Research 61, Elsevier: 986-994.

11. Li, Z., Y. Li and C. Liu. 2013. “Modeling the strategic mutation of international joint venture” Chinese Management Studies 7(3), Emerald: 470-487.

12. Literature on joint venture Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.joint.venture/).

13. Literature on literature review Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.literaturereview/).

14. Literature on mind mapping Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.mind.mapping/).

15. Meschi, P.X.  2005. “Environmental uncertainty and survival of international joint ventures: the case of political and economic risk in emerging countries” European Management Review 2, Palgrave: 143-152.

16. Mohr, A.T. 2006. “A multiple constituency approach to IJV performance measurement” Journal of World Business 41, Elsevier: 247-260.

17. Mohr, A.T. and J.F. Puck. 2005. “Managing Functional Diversity to Improve the Performance of International Joint Ventures” Long Range Planning 38, Elsevier: 163-182.

18. Nemeth, A. and M. Nippa. 2013. “Rigor and Relevance of IJV Exit Research” Management International Review 53: 449-475.

19. Newburry, W. and Y. Zeira. 1997. “Generic Differences Between Equity International Joint Ventures (EIJVs), International Acquisitions (IAs) and International Greenfield” Journal of World Business 32(2): 87-102.

20. Nippa, M., S. Beechler and A. Klossek. 2007. “Success Factors for Managing International Joint Ventures: A Review and an Integrative Framework” Management and Organization Review 3(2): 277-310.

21. Selekler-Gökşen, N.N. and S.H. Uysal-Tezölmez. 2007. “Control and Performance in International Joint Ventures in Turkey” European Management Journal 25(5), Pergamon: 384-394.

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[1] There is no sub-theme generated in this analysis on IJV.

Mind mapping the topic of international franchising

Mind mapping the topic of international franchising (IF)

Joseph Kim-keung Ho

Independent Trainer

Hong Kong, China

Abstract: The topic of international franchising (IF) is a main one in global business management. This article makes use of the mind mapping-based literature review (MMBLR) approach to render an image on the knowledge structure of international franchising. The finding of the review exercise is that its knowledge structure comprises four main themes, i.e., (a) Descriptions of basic concepts, (b) Major underlying theories and thinking, (c) Main research topics and issues, and (d) Major trends and issues related to practices. There is also a set of key concepts identified from the IF literature review. The article offers some academic and pedagogical values on the topics of IF, literature review and the mind mapping-based literature review (MMBLR) approach.

Key words: Franchising, international franchising (IF), literature review, mind map, the mind mapping-based literature review (MMBLR) approach, global business management

Introduction

International franchising (IF) is a main topic in global business management. It is of academic and pedagogical interest to the writer who has been a lecturer on global business management for some tertiary education centres in Hong Kong. In this article, the writer presents his literature review findings on IF using the mind mapping-based literature review (MMBLR) approach. This approach was proposed by this writer this year and has been employed to review the literature on a number of topics, such as supply chain management, strategic management accounting and customer relationship management (Ho, 2016). The MMBLR approach itself is not particularly novel since mind mapping has been employed in literature review since its inception. The overall aims of this exercise are to:

1.      Render an image of the knowledge structure of international franchising  (IF) via the application of the MMBLR approach;

2.      Illustrate how the MMBLR approach can be applied in literature review on an academic topic, such as IF.

The findings from this literature review exercise offer academic and pedagogical values to those who are interested in the topics of IF, literature review and the MMBLR approach. Other than that, this exercise facilitates this writer’s intellectual learning on these three topics. The next section makes a brief introduction on the MMBLR approach. After that, an account of how it is applied to study IF is presented.

On mind mapping-based literature review

The mind mapping-based literature review (MMBLR) approach was developed by this writer this year (Ho, 2016). It makes use of mind mapping as a complementary literature review exercise (see the Literature on mind mapping Facebook page and the Literature on literature review Facebook page). The approach is made up of two steps. Step 1 is a thematic analysis on the literature of the topic chosen for study. Step 2 makes use of the findings from step 1 to produce a complementary mind map. The MMBLR approach is a relatively straightforward and brief exercise. The approach is not particularly original since the idea of using mind maps in literature review has been well recognized in the mind mapping literature. The MMBLR approach is also an interpretive exercise in the sense that different reviewers with different research interest and intellectual background inevitably will select different ideas, facts and findings in their thematic analysis (i.e., step 1 of the MMBLR approach). Also, to conduct the approach, the reviewer needs to perform a literature search beforehand. Apparently, what a reviewer gathers from a literature search depends on what library facility, including e-library, is available to the reviewer. The next section presents the findings from the MMBLR approach step 1; afterward, a companion mind map is provided based on the MMBLR approach step 1 findings.

Mind mapping-based literature review on international franchising (IF): step 1 findings

Step 1 of the MMBLR approach is a thematic analysis on the literature of the topic under investigation (Ho, 2016). In our case, this is the IF topic. The writer gathers some academic articles from some universities’ e-libraries as well as via the Google Scholar. With the academic articles collected, the writer conducted a literature review on them to assemble a set of ideas, viewpoints, concepts and findings (called points here). The points from the IF literature are then grouped into four themes here. The key words in the quotations are bolded in order to highlight the key concepts involved.

Theme 1: Descriptions of basic concepts

Point 1.1.              “…firms that have developed and own a business format franchise use a variety of organisational forms to transfer this format to foreign markets…  In addition to selling franchises directly to host country individuals and businesses, franchising firms also confer on an independent intermediary the contractual responsibility to develop the local market by selling the franchise on or by operating their own outlets.  Less commonly, owners of a franchise also take equity positions in foreign operations, in the form of company-owned outlets – run by employee managers – and as affiliated subsidiaries and joint ventures” (Burton, Cross and Rhodes, 2000);

Point 1.2.              “Since many of these relatively new-to-franchising markets are in culturally distinct countries, master international franchising is among the fastest growing methods of international expansion since it involves minimal financial risk and a quick market entry strategy … Kaufmann and Dant …define master franchising as a form of umbrella licensing agreement which differs from the standard unit or location-level franchise in two ways: (1) it provides for the granting of an exclusive territory extending beyond the trade area of a single unit, and (2) it envisions from the outset the introduction of an additional layer of control between store level management and the franchisor” (Dant and Grünhagen, 2014);

Point 1.3.              “…franchising … can be thought of as a marketing and distribution system involving an independent businessperson (i.e., the franchisee) who buys the rights to market the goods and / or services of another entity (i.e., the franchisor) according to the procedures and standards set out by the franchisor in the franchise agreement and referenced ancillary documents through a business operation known as a franchise. The franchisee is essentially paying a fee to the franchisor for replicating the business of the franchisor” (Bellin, 2016);

Point 1.4.              “Business format franchising is the most commonly studied form of franchise. In this format, franchisees also receive various types of support, such as an operations manual, training and on-site guidance. Franchisees have to pay for this support and they are obliged to operate their businesses as prescribed by the franchisor” (Nijmeijer, Fabbricotti and Huijsman, 2014);

Point 1.5.              “Franchising consists of a contractual arrangement between two firms: the franchisor and the franchisee. In this arrangement, the franchisee buys the right to market goods or services under the franchisor’s brand name” (Nijmeijer, Fabbricotti and Huijsman, 2014);

Point 1.6.              “Franchising has two characteristics that distinguish it from other organizational forms such as equity joint ventures and strategic alliances. First, franchising typically occurs in businesses where there is a notable service component that must be performed near customers. The result is that service-providing outlets must be replicated and dispersed geographically. The second key characteristic is that franchise contracts typically reflect a unique allocation of responsibilities, decision rights, and profits between a centralized principal (the franchisor) and decentralized agents (franchisees)” (Combs, Michael and Castrogiovanni, 2004);

Point 1.7.              “Modern day franchising, however, describes a contractually vested inter-firm business relationship between two legally independent entities involving a grantee (or franchisee) and a grantor (the franchisor), where the franchisee pays the franchisor for rights to sell the franchisor’s product or service using franchisor’s trademarks and its proprietary business system in a pre-specified location for a pre-specified length of contract. A distinction is usually proposed between the first to develop traditional (or product and trade-name) franchising, and the second, business format franchising” (Dant and Grünhagen, 2014);

Point 1.8.              “Historians have traced the franchising concept in a European context to the Middle Ages when the Catholic Church granted franchises to tax collectors; other scholars suggest these practices were preceded by the ancient Chinese” (Bellin, 2016);

Point 1.9.              “Multi-unit franchising is different from single-unit franchising in that franchisees own, operate, or control more than one outlet” (Garg and Rasheed, 2003);

Point 1.10.         “Originating from an Old French term ‘‘franche,’’ which literally means ‘‘to make or set free’’ or ‘‘to invest with a franchise or privilege’’ …., in Medieval times a franchise was a privilege or right granted by sovereign powers (e.g., royalty, churches, or governments) for a variety of activities (e.g., rights to build roads, organize markets and fairs, collect taxes, maintain law and order). The grantee was given monopoly rights for specific activities in a pre-specified location for a given period of time, usually in exchange for a royalty payment made to the grantor …  Many of these early vestiges of franchising persist even in modern franchise systems” (Dant and Grünhagen, 2014);

Point 1.11.         “The former systems [traditional (or product and trade-name) franchising]   are typified by franchisees closely identifying themselves with single manufacturers that practically served as dedicated distributors of the focal manufacturers’ products  ….., in business format franchising, …, the outlet itself is the product ... In effect, business format franchisors primarily sell a ‘‘way of doing business’’ together with a comprehensive package of services and an operating manual that specifies details like standards of quality control and  provisions of ongoing training, communication, and other operational supports” (Dant and Grünhagen, 2014);

Theme 2: Major underlying theories and thinking

Point 2.1.              “A central assumption of agency theory framework is that the interests of principals diverge from that of agents …. As a result of this assumption, agents might misrepresent information concerning their skills (i.e., the adverse selection problem) and effort (i.e., the moral hazard problem)… According to agency theory, these problems can be mitigated through either residual claimancy, or monitoring” (Garg and Rasheed, 2003);

Point 2.2.              “An agency relationship exists whenever one party (the principal) delegates authority to another (the agent). Because agents are assumed to be self-interested and to possess goals that diverge from the principal’s goals, the principal must expend resources (called agency costs) to insure that agents act in their interests …. In chains, the firm can choose as their outlet managers either employees who are paid a salary (and perhaps a bonus) or franchisees that are granted the right to their outlet’s profits after royalties and other expenses. In both cases, an agency problem is created because the franchisor delegates local decision-making to outlet managers whose interests are not perfectly aligned with the franchisor’s” (Combs, Michael and Castrogiovanni, 2004);

Point 2.3.              “When firms are very young and small, it is difficult to raise adequate capital for growth through traditional financial markets (e.g., through public stock offerings) or from existing operations, and it is difficult to develop the requisite managerial talent and local market knowledge … Nevertheless, rapid expansion may be essential to build the economies of scale in purchasing and advertising necessary to compete effectively against more established firms ….. Thus, firms seek to access the capital and managerial resources that franchisees provide when they build and manage outlets, even though returns might be higher among firm-owned outlets” (Combs, Michael and Castrogiovanni, 2004);

Point 2.4.              “… sustained and comparatively faster innovative activity has often been considered to be a strong correlate of firm growth …. More recently, however, the replication, or exploitation, of an innovative business model has also become an increasingly salient driver of firm growth” (Szulanski, and Jensen, 2008);

Point 2.5.              “….the good franchising system can be seen to be designed to provide a pretested formula for success with the franchisor prescribing a complete plan, or format, for operating the business covering step-by-step procedures for every aspect of the business. Anticipating most management problems, the plan provides solutions and approaches for management decisions likely to be confronted by franchisees. For example, the good franchisor assists in site selection, site development, and fit-out, providing computer hardware and software to franchisees at a reasonable cost” (Bellin, 2016);

Point 2.6.              “…franchising creates opportunities for thousands of budding entrepreneurs every year. These franchisees are an important source of innovation and local adaptation for franchisors” (Combs and Ketchen Jr, 2003);

Point 2.7.              “…young, small, growing firms will use franchising to fuel expansion until they reach the critical mass needed to generate economies of scale. Once economies have been achieved, rapid expansion is no longer necessary and a firm’s focus will shift toward maximizing each outlet’s returns.  Consequently, new franchising should cease and the firm will try to purchase its most profitable franchised outlets. Ultimately, a successful, mature firm’s outlets will be primarily company-owned” (Combs and Ketchen Jr, 2003);

Point 2.8.              “Alon and McKee ….developed ‘‘a macro environmental model’’ of international franchising. According to the model, there are four factors important to a country analysis including: (1) economic, (2) demographic, (3) distance, and (4) political dimensions” (Heung, Zhang and Jiang, 2008);

Point 2.9.              “For companies with an established network of wholly owned outlets, the cost of extending distribution systems becomes marginal, making franchising a potentially more cost effective method of business expansion than acquisition or organic growth” (Heung, Zhang and Jiang, 2008);

Point 2.10.         “Franchisees expect their franchisors to exert effort to maintain trademark value via advertising and promotions, as well as screening and policing other franchisees in the chain. If this behavior is not observed by the franchisee, there is a moral-hazard problem on the franchisor’s side. The franchisor must be given incentives to perform” (Maruyama and Yamashita, 2010);

Point 2.11.         “From the perspective of entrepreneurship, franchising is a vehicle for entering business ownership …. From the perspective of marketing, franchising is an important distribution channel ….From the perspective of economics, franchising is a leading venue for understanding the structure of contracts … From the perspective of strategic management, franchising is an important organizational form (Combs, Michael and Castrogiovanni, 2004);

Point 2.12.         “Good franchisors are exceedingly selective: their goal is to select the highest quality franchisees to replicate franchisor operations.… Good franchisors also want to know if the people they recruit as potential franchisees understand the meaning and obligations of being their own bosses” (Bellin, 2016);

Point 2.13.         “In the context of franchising, the agency premise is that there is likely to be greater goal divergence between franchisors and hired managers than between franchisors and franchisees. This is because franchisees have stronger incentives for maximizing the present value of their franchises” (Garg and Rasheed, 2003);

Point 2.14.         “In the past two decades, researchers have tried to explain international franchising from different theoretical angles. International franchise studies can be classified into five research streams: studies that focus on franchise internationalisation compared to domestic operations …, the host country conditions and the impact of  international franchising …, the propensity to franchise internationally …, the cross-border franchisor–franchisee relationship …, and the choice of international franchise governance modes” (Jell-Ojobor and Windsperger, 2014);

Point 2.15.         “It is increasingly recognized that the business model or system leveraged by a replicator is often a complex set of interdependent activities ….Reproducing such a ‘recipe’ often means re-creating the knowledge underpinning a system of complex, causally ambiguous, and imperfectly understood productive processes at each new site” (Szulanski, and Jensen, 2008);

Point 2.16.         “Most franchising research has been grounded in either resource scarcity or agency theory. Resource scarcity views franchising as a mechanism to ease financial and managerial constraints on growth. Agency theory views franchising as a mechanism for improving the alignment between firm- and outlet-level incentives. Note that the two theories are not contradictory” (Combs, Michael and Castrogiovanni, 2004);

Point 2.17.         “Overall, five different streams of literature can be identified regarding international franchising … The macro perspective is concerned with the host country conditions and the impact of international franchising…….  The entry mode literature …is concerned with the choice between corporate units on one side and franchising as an entry mode on the other side, as franchisors enter new markets. …. A third research focus has differentiated among different  franchise options when entering a foreign market …Master franchise agreements (alongside company ownership) have been the most common entry strategies for international franchise systems, followed by joint venture franchising and conversion franchising….…. Factors that appear as driving forces for franchisors to expand internationally… include past experience, age, and size of the existing franchise  System … and managers’ desire to increase profits … Finally, the cross-border franchisor-franchisee relationship has been investigated … which involves conflict and management challenges for international franchisors” (Dant and Grünhagen, 2014);

Point 2.18.         “The advantages and risks of global franchising to the franchisor are summarized by Stanworth et al. … as follows: advantages include fewer financial resources required; raw materials can be produced internally; less susceptibility to political, economic and cultural risks; and franchisees are more familiar with local laws, language, culture, business norms and practices. Risks include possible difficulties in repatriating royalties; protecting copyright and intellectual property; policing quality standards; understanding laws, regulations, language and business norms; and servicing franchisees, terminating contracts and local limitations” (Heung, Zhang and Jiang, 2008);

Point 2.19.         “There are two common measures of outlet risk faced by the franchisee. One is the measure of variation in sectoral sales per outlet … It is assumed that the more volatile the sales per outlet in a chain, the greater the risk borne by their franchisees. Another is the measure of failure rates …. Lafontaine… has used the fraction of outlets that were discontinued in a particular period of time as the measure of risk” (Maruyama and Yamashita, 2010);

Point 2.20.         “There is the problem of asymmetric information about the profitability of the franchise concept between the franchisor and the franchisee. Before deciding to sign a franchise contract, potential franchisees will want to acquire information on product demand or receive some assurance from the franchisor about the profitability of the franchise concept. Gallini and Lutz … identify an organizational remedy for this problem. The franchisor can signal high profitability to the potential franchisees by choosing to operate directly” (Maruyama and Yamashita, 2010);

Theme 3: Main research topics and issues

Point 3.1.              “…franchise research in the global arena has followed the geographic inroads made by the franchise industry. While Western Europe, North America, Australia, and the highly developed economies of East Asia (primarily South Korea and Japan) constituted the initial foreign expansion targets of U.S. franchise firms …, ….A second wave of franchise expansion included the BRICS economies …and adjacent areas like the former Eastern Bloc economies of Europe, as well as Latin America beyond Brazil, including Ecuador … Most recently, …the focus of franchisors has shifted yet again to the young markets of Vietnam, the Philippines, and other Southeast Asian economies, as well as the African continent” (Dant and Grünhagen, 2014);

Point 3.2.              “Agency theory has been a popular perspective to investigate issues in franchising … Agency theory arguments of franchising, however, focus on single-unit franchising (SUF): they are “uniformly couched in terms of the local management of single-unit operations” …This preoccupation with single unit franchising seems surprising, given that multi-unit franchising (MUF) is ubiquitous, especially in location-based industries where franchising is most popular” (Garg and Rasheed, 2003);

Point 3.3.              “As franchising has increased its visibility and impact on the business landscape, it has attracted the attention of a wide variety of researchers from different academic backgrounds” (Combs, Michael and Castrogiovanni, 2004);

Point 3.4.              “Franchise practitioners need information about the structures and processes that can help them to be successful. Unfortunately, the evidence base is fragmented, complex and heterogeneous in terms of theoretical perspectives, methods and conceptualizations, providing only partial or even confusing advice for practitioners” (Nijmeijer, Fabbricotti and Huijsman, 2014);

Point 3.5.              “It is … clear that the design of franchise territories and market areas has a significant influence on the performance – and even the survival – of a [franchise] system. Yet neither the scholarly nor the practical literature has given much attention to either the initial design of territories nor to methods of restructuring territories and market areas that minimize conflict with franchisees” (Cox and Mason, 2009);

Point 3.6.              “The theory of international franchising begins in earnest from around the early 1990s…. a missing development is borrowing from international branding theory and applying it to international franchising as a major theoretical platform” (Merrilees, 2014);

Point 3.7.              “When choosing to franchise, a firm surrenders significant control over new outlets bearing its name and receives only a small percentage of franchised outlets’ revenues. Thus, what leads organizations to franchise particular outlets, despite the inherent downsides, has been the subject of considerable empirical research. Unfortunately, little consensus has emerged” (Combs and Ketchen Jr, 2003);

Theme 4: Major trends and issues related to practices

Point 4.1.              “…. two other contemporary developments in the franchising industry ….. Foremost there is a phenomenal increase in the number of multiunit franchisees, that is, franchisees that operate multiple units within a franchise system …The second development has to do with the rapid global expansion of the franchising enterprise. … From this vantage point, developing economies like India, China, Brazil, and South Africa appear to represent the greatest potential” (Dant and Grünhagen, 2014);

Point 4.2.              “…the real boom in modern day business format franchising did not occur until the 1950s with the founding of Burger King … and McDonald’s … More than ever before, these pioneers … were responsible for bringing the assembly line uniformity to the fast food industry” (Dant and Grünhagen, 2014);

Point 4.3.              “A legal environment to support franchising is a necessary prerequisite for franchise sector development. There must be an established framework of commercial law sufficient for the complexities of modern business dealing and the institutions and machinery to resolve disputes and enforce judgments, without which franchising is ‘‘not able to function’’ (Binh and Terry, 2014);

Point 4.4.              “A range of commercial services are also necessary for the functioning of effective franchise systems (i.e., distribution and logistics networks, human resources, management expertise, accounting, banking, consulting, and legal services). Such commercial infrastructure services do not emerge fully formed [in developing countries] and pose challenges for the operation of a sophisticated franchise model” (Binh and Terry, 2014);

Point 4.5.              “A visit to the franchise would indicate if franchisors are striving to achieve excellent ongoing communications from and to franchisees as in having a fully functional franchise advisory council (FAC)—an evidence of mutual trust. We consider a FAC critical to the ongoing success of any franchise group. The FAC should be supported by regional franchise meetings run by the regional elected franchisee representative” (Bellin, 2016);

Point 4.6.              “Despite the positive expectations, failure rates of new franchise initiatives are high. In the USA, it is estimated that 50–85% of these initiatives fail …. Moreover, there is significant variation in the strategic and operational success of franchises” (Nijmeijer, Fabbricotti and Huijsman, 2014);

Point 4.7.              “Franchised businesses operate on the basis of granting individual franchisees trading rights to serve territories or market areas on either an exclusive or a non-exclusive basis. The design of these territories is generally undertaken during the roll-out phase of the franchise. However, these territories and market areas may become sub-optimal over time, necessitating restructuring. However, if the franchisor has granted exclusive rights to a territory then this is likely to involve a breach in the franchise contract. In cases where existing franchisees do not have exclusive territories they may nevertheless make a legal challenge to the creation of additional franchises on the grounds of encroachment” (Cox and Mason, 2009);

Point 4.8.              “From the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, international franchising grew dramatically…. The surge in international activity by US-based franchisors can be explained, in part, by characteristics internal to the franchisor. Such characteristics include the operating life span of the franchisor, the franchisor’s size and type, unit start-up costs for each individual franchise and the franchisor’s headquarters location” (Huszagh, Huszagh and McIntyre, 1992);

Point 4.9.              “In recent decades, the number of franchises in the world has increased considerably …. It is expected that franchising delivers a better financial performance, a more supportive working environment and/or higher survival chances than alternative organizational forms” (Nijmeijer, Fabbricotti and Huijsman, 2014);

Point 4.10.         “Most state-owned hotels [in PRC] are looking for ways to expand and deal with the increasing competition. One way to survive is to join an international franchise operation” (Heung, Zhang and Jiang, 2008);

Point 4.11.         “One of the most enduring trends to have emerged in international business over the last two decades has been the growth in the internationalisation of services….. In conjunction, the rate at which firms have adopted one particular business vehicle – the international franchise – to effect the downstream delivery of services into foreign markets has also accelerated dramatically over this period” (Burton, Cross and Rhodes, 2000);

Point 4.12.         “Through the international expansion of foreign franchise systems, developing countries are introduced not only to new products, services, and technologies but also to training, operational and business formats, and ongoing support in relation to those systems” (Binh and Terry, 2014);

Point 4.13.         “While business format franchising is the industry standard for developed countries, it remains an aspiration for many developing countries. Despite the attraction for developing countries of systems, training, and support and despite the economic and regulatory infrastructure being in place for the development of business format franchising, a range of commercial and socio-cultural factors may conspire to prevent its full expression” (Binh and Terry, 2014);

Each of the four themes has a set of associated points (i.e., idea, viewpoints, concepts and findings). Together they provide an organized way to comprehend the knowledge structure of the international franchising (IF) topic. The bolded key words in the quotation reveal, based on the writer’s intellectual judgement, the key concepts examined in the IF literature. The referencing indicated on the points identified informs the readers where to find the academic articles to learn more about the details on these points; readers are also referred to the Literature on franchising Facebook page. The process of conducting the thematic analysis is an exploratory as well as synthetic learning endeavour on the topic’s literature. Once the structure of the themes, sub-themes[1] and their associated points are finalized, the reviewer is in a position to move forward to step 2 of the MMBLR approach. The MMBLR approach step 2 finding, i.e., a companion mind map on IF, is presented in the next section.

Mind mapping-based literature review on IF: step 2 (mind mapping) output

By adopting the findings from the MMBLR approach step 1 on international franchising (IF), the writer constructs a companion mind map shown as Figure 1.

Referring to the mind map on IF, the topic label is shown right at the centre of the map as a large blob. Four main branches are attached to it, corresponding to the four themes identified in the thematic analysis. The links and ending nodes with key phrases represent the points from the thematic analysis. The key phrases have also been bolded in the quotations provided in the thematic analysis. As a whole, the mind map renders an image of the knowledge structure on IF based on the thematic analysis findings. Constructing the mind map is part of the learning process on literature review. The mind mapping process is speedy and entertaining. The resultant mind map also serves as a useful presentation and teaching material. This mind mapping experience confirms the writer’s previous experience using on the MMBLR approach (Ho, 2016). Readers are also referred to the Literature on literature review Facebook page and the Literature on mind mapping Facebook page for additional information on these two topics.

Concluding remarks

The MMBLR approach to study IF provided here is mainly for its practice illustration as its procedures have been refined via a number of its employment on an array of topics (Ho, 2016). No major additional MMBLR steps nor notions have been introduced in this article. In this respect, the exercise reported here primarily offers some pedagogical value as well as some systematic and stimulated learning on international franchising (IF) in global business management. Nevertheless, the thematic findings and the image of the knowledge structure on IF in the form of a mind map should also be of academic value to those who research on this topic.

Bibliography

1.      Bellin, H. 2016. “Good Franchising” Journal of Marketing Channels 23, Routledge: 77-80.

2.      Binh, N.B. and A. Terry. 2014. “Meeting the Challenges for Franchising in Developing Countries: The Vietnamese Experience” Journal of Marketing Channels 21(3): 210-221.

3.      Burton, F., A.R. Cross and M. Rhodes. 2000. “Foreign Market Serving Strategies of UK Franchisors: An Empirical Enquiry from a Transaction Cost Perspective” Management International Review 40: 373-400.

4.      Combs, J.G. and D. J. Ketchen Jr. 2003. “Why Do Firms Use Franchising as an Entrepreneurial Strategy?:  A Meta-Analysis” Journal of Management 29(3), Pegamon: 443-465.

5.      Combs, J.G., S.C. Michael and G.J. Castrogiovanni. 2004. “Franchising:  A Review and Avenues to Greater Theoretical Diversity” Journal of Management 30(6), Pergamon: 907-931.

6.      Cox, J. and C. Mason. 2009. “Franchise network restructuring: Pressures, constraints and mechanisms” Entrepreneurship & Regional Development 21(5-6), Routlege: 503-527.

7.      Dant, R.P. and M. Grünhagen. 2014. “International Franchising Research: Some Thoughts on the What, Where, When, and How” Journal of Marketing Channels 21, Routledge: 124-132.

8.      Garg, V.K. and A.A. Rasheed. 2003. “International multi-unit franchising: an agency theoretic explanation” International Business Review 12, Pergamon:

9.      Heung, V.C.S., H. Zhang and C. Jiang. 2008. “International franchising: Opportunities for China’s state-owned hotels?” International Journal of Hospitality Management 27, Elsevier: 368-380/

10. Ho, J.K.K. 2016. Mind mapping for literature review – a ebook, Joseph KK Ho publication folder October 7 (url address: http://josephkkho.blogspot.hk/2016/10/mind-mapping-for-literature-review-ebook.html).

11. Huszagh, S.M., F.W. Huszagh and F.S. McIntyre. 1992. “International Franchising in the Context of Competitive Strategy and the Theory of the Firm” International Marketing Review 9(5), MCB University Press: 5-18.

12. Jell-Ojobor, M. and J. Windsperger. 2014. “The Choice of Governance Modes of International Franchise Firms – Development of an Integrative Model” Journal of International Management 20, Elsevier; 153-187.

13.  Literature on franchising Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.franchising/).

14. Literature on literature review Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.literaturereview/).

15. Literature on mind mapping Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.mind.mapping/).

16. Maruyama, M. and Y. Yamashita. 2010.”The logic of franchise contracts: Empirical results of Japan” Japan and the World Economy 22, Elsevier: 183-192.

17. Merrilees, B. 2014. “International Franchising: Evolution of Theory and Practice” Journal of Marketing Channels 21, Routledge: 133-142.

18. Nijmeijer, K., I.N. Fabbricotti and R. Huijsman. 2014. “Making Franchising Work: A Framework Based on a Systematic Review” International Journal of Management Review 16: 62-83.

19. Szulanski, G. and R.J. Jensen. 2008. “Growing through copying: The negative consequences of innovation on franchise network growth” Research Policy 37, Elsevier: 1732-1741.

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[1] There is no sub-theme generated in this analysis on IF.