Vivian Lara dos Santos Silva

Formas plurais no franchising de alimentos: evidências de estudos de caso na França e no Brasil

O problema de formas plurais e importante tema de interesse na literatura dedicada ao franchising. A coexistencia de lojas proprias e unidades franqueadas em uma mesma rede e fato bem conhecido, merecendo a grande atencao que vem recebendo dos pesquisadores. Acontece, porem, que formas organizacionais no franchising sao mais diferenciadas do que sugere a literatura. De fato, informacoes oriundas de 21 estudos de caso, realizados na Franca e no Brasil, evidenciam a existencia, em acrescimo a hierarquia (lojas proprias), de tres opcoes de contratos de franquia: 1) franquia convencional; 2) franquia parcial e 3) contrato de locacao de gerencia, os quais diferem entre si em termos da exigencia de capital, incentivo e divisao de riscos. E observado o emprego combinado de lojas proprias, com um ou mais dos formatos contratuais identificados, referindo-se a um portfolio de formas organizacionais na regencia das transacoes. O ambiente institucional revela-se a principal variavel explicativa das particularidades observadas no uso de formas plurais na Franca e no Brasil. Em especial, tem-se o sistema legal e as incertezas relacionadas as decisoes judiciais como as principais razoes pelas quais as redes com operacao no mercado brasileiro nao exploram por completo a diversidade dos contratos de franquia como identificado na Franca/Europa.

Governance Inseparability in Franchising: Multi-case Study in France and Brazil

The literature on franchising relies largely on the analysis of the transaction between franchisor and franchisees, sometimes also including company-owned outlets in the same investigation. This paper argues that the appropriate design of franchise contracts depends not only on the features of the transaction between franchisor and franchisees, but also on other transactions undertaken by the franchisor, particularly in upstream contracts, a hypothesis known as ‘governance inseparability’. Moreover, certain institutional environment features that affect the choice of governance mechanisms in the supply chain may indirectly influence the design of franchise contracts. In order to examine this hypothesis, this paper presents a discrete structural analysis of 21 case-studies of food franchises in France and Brazil. The cases compare franchise chains in each country that share similar business features — e.g. McDonalds’ operations in France and Brazil — in an attempt to control variables related to product and franchisors’ strategies. The main findings are that: a) firms choose a portfolio of governance mechanisms to govern their set of transactions; b) upstream and downstream governance mechanisms are complementary; and c) quality regulation and competition policy restrain upstream governance mechanisms, having an indirect effect on the design of the franchise contracts.

Interfirm arrangements in different institutional environments: McDonald's France and Brazil case study.

Abstract This paper aims to investigate the effect of the institutional environment variables on the organizational choice by franchise chains that share a business format. Inasmuch as this type of franchising requires strict standardization, a comparative analysis of the same franchise chain operating in different institutional environments allows for the control of several variables, such as product and firm strategies, so that the observed organizational differences may be attributed to institutional variables. Different rules of the game may explain different governance structures in the transaction between franchisor and franchisees and their procurement contracts. In this paper, we did case studies based on semi-structured interviews with procurement and franchising managers of McDonalds in France and Brazil. The main finding is that McDonalds uses in Brazil governance structures that provide more control on transactions, both in the transactions with their outlets and their suppliers. In accordance with our results, institutional environment features explains differences in the organizational choice in each country. Results suggest the need for further research in two directions: a larger sample of countries and the investigation of other franchise chains.

Contratos interfirmas em diferentes ambientes institucionais: o caso McDonald's França versus Brasil

Neste artigo, tem-se como objetivo investigar a influencia exercida pela diversidade institucional sobre as escolhas organizacionais de redes de franquias organizadas sob o business format franchising. Dada a exigencia de padronizacao intrinseca a esse formato organizacional, um estudo comparado de uma mesma rede de franquia, sujeita a diferentes regras do jogo, permite identificar as relacoes entre variaveis do ambiente institucional e os arranjos organizacionais. Optou-se pela analise comparada da experiencia do McDonalds na Franca e no Brasil paises que, alem de se destacarem na pratica do franchising e nos negocios mundiais do McDonalds, apresentam regras do jogo distintas. Foi utilizada a metodologia de estudos de caso, por meio de entrevistas semi-estruturadas com os gerentes da rede nos referidos paises. Como principal conclusao, ha, no Brasil, maior predominio de praticas contratuais que proporcionam maior controle sobre a transacao, tanto na relacao franqueador-franqueado, quanto no gerenciamento de sua cadeia de suprimentos. De acordo com os resultados da pesquisa, esse fato decorre de tres caracteristicas distintas dos ambientes institucionais de cada pais: menor estabilidade institucional e macroeconomica no Brasil; maiores restricoes as praticas verticais na Franca, devido a legislacao de defesa da concorrencia mais restritiva; e maior controle de padroes na industria de alimentos na Europa, particularmente na Franca.

Food Industry and Processing Technology: On Time to Harmonize Technology and Social Drivers

Through an extensive literature review, including scientific publications and organizational reports of food processing companies, our main goal in this paper is to identify the trajectory of the food industry and processing technology from its birth in the nineteenth century to the present time. In this paper, the following questions are addressed: How have we got here? And where are we going? In essence, this review perceives three main paradigm shifts in the food industry, supported by four main knowledge development cycles of Food Science and Technology. Furthermore, this paper also surmises that we are now at the most challenging moment considering the two centuries of history of the food industry. Despite an unquestionable technological development, while ensuring the scale production of microbiologically safe, nutritious, and appealing foods, the industry has apparently not effectively engaged its stakeholders. Particularly, the industry needs to improve its approach towards the consumer. The contemporary challenging situation outside the box urges the development of new processes and technologies considering present-day consumption drivers associated with processed food. This is important for the industry to reinvent itself so as to understand that more than creating textures, the opportunity is also to preserve and enhance attributes derived from the raw material and from the relationships established throughout the value chain in which it operates.