A Preliminary Study: Exploring Franchising Growth Factors of Franchisor and Franchisee

Yes

Can be improved

Must be improved

Not applicable

Does the introduction provide sufficient background and include all relevant references?

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Are all the cited references relevant to the research?

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Is the research design appropriate?

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Are the methods adequately described?

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(x)

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Are the results clearly presented?

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(x)

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Are the conclusions supported by the results?

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No.

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Authors Explanation

1

The English for academic use is critical upon drafting a research article. Your paper is insufficiently meet this requirement, e.g., see line 9, 23, 37 (..this coupled..), etc. You should contact a good proof-reader to carefully peer your manuscript.

Grammatical error and re-structure of sentences.

2

Your paper submits the argument that there is a scarce discussion in Malaysia, implying a generalisation; however, your study is only limited to 5 people from two brands. The fact that you use qualitative approach requires you to admit this and not overemphasise it; in fact, this has to be admitted in your article.

8. Limitation and Future Research

The limitation study focuses on franchisor and franchisee perspectives with five participants. Generalisations to other franchising businesses, particularly for the Malaysian market, cannot be made because the study's case samples are limited. Moreover, the number of participants could be more and range from a variety of industry that may be possible to find other factors that vary by different levels of knowledge. Future studies could examine the propositions developed using quantitative lenses to see the relationships between these three factors and growth factors. Consequently, it is encouraged for both practitioners and academics to further explore more complex franchising business models and franchising business model development in the context of strategy and critical success factors.

3

If I am not mistaken, the MDPI-based journal generally employs the IMRAD in the paper drafting; thus, the literature review section has to be deleted. Please check the author's guidelines. You can assign the literature review section in the introduction section, merging into one meaningful conversation.

As per note in this journal guidance:

JOItmC now accepts free format submission:

• We do not have strict formatting requirements, but all manuscripts must contain the required sections: Author Information, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, Conclusions, Figures and Tables with Captions, Funding Information, Author Contributions, Conflict of Interest and other Ethics Statements. 

Therefore, I would like to remain the literature review section accordingly.

4

Line 110-121 can be considered as the real-life data supporting the phenomenon. It does not belong in the theoretical section.

The paragraph has been moved to introduction part.

5

You need to explain the reasonings for selecting one's approach, qualitative, and how it may aid further contributions in the field.

Reason and contributions mentioned in Research Methodology – Study design.

A research problem is an issue that has been identified in the study and followed by research questions and objectives development [63]. We used an exploratory qualitative research design to answer the research question [64]. Using qualitative research would allow the researcher to explain the social world, create explanatory models, and develop theories. This study adopted a case study as the methodology, which involved in-depth interviews. The participants were chosen from two brands which involve a dyad relationship between franchisor and franchisee. A case study or multiple case studies are used to enhance the external validity or generalizability of study findings [65,66]. This study uses purposive sampling to ensure that the chosen sample could reach the criteria and the valuable information needed [65]. The study only focuses on the services industry. The researcher selected the samples based on a firm that has been operating for more than five years as firm age is vital to ensure the firm's stability with the changing business environment. Thus, a case study is very much in line with the study to explore the growth factors of a franchise business.

6

The drafting in line 244-245 is questionable. You divide the findings into 3 parts, i.e., product and service innovation, franchisor-franchisee tolerance and government support. However, they actually emerged from your research protocol; thus, it does not independently come from the realisation of your informants. This fact has to be admitted in your article.

Subtopic 3.3 Data Analysis has been added to show the process of the data analysis

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You need to carefully draft 1 paragraph, e.g., line 305-308, in the end of each sub-section that may point how those interview data emerged to be saturated, as indicated in the qualitative data validity and reliability requirements.

The process has been explained in Sub-section 3.3. Data analysis and Table 4 Phases of thematic analysis.

8

I do not see that conclusion must contain a reference. You can consider removing it.

Removed the sentence.

9

You need to specifically and boldly make a statement about which novelty your paper provides as evident from your finding.

Three propositions has been proposed by this study. These propositions could be tested by using quantitative.

10

This phrase needs an emphasise as how qualitative study may contribute to the knowledge:

However, due to existing literature on the franchise growth factors in developing countries such as Malaysia is still limited, this research study to better understand the phenomenon of growth factors from both the franchisor's and franchisee's perspectives

This study's participants are made up of five people that were involved two franchisors and three franchisees.

In exchange for money, the owner of the brand and business model grants you the right to utilise said brand and business model which including all associated trademarks, goods, systems, and so forth [1]

However, since existing literature on franchise growth drivers in developing

countries such as Malaysia is still scarce, this research study aims to better understand the phenomena of growth from the perspectives of both the franchisor and the franchisee.

There is a study by Frazer & Winzar [30] proven that conflict relationship between franchisor and franchisee will result with franchisee exit.

Additional sentence and rephrase:

However, since existing literature on franchise growth drivers is still scarce, this research study aims to add to the growth literature from the perspectives of the franchisor and the franchisee.

The participants of this study are based on five participants: two franchisors and three franchisees from two brands. The summary of the sample description is in Table 1. The participants are from top management from two service industries.

However, since existing literature on franchise growth drivers is still scarce, this research study aims to add to the growth literature from the perspectives of the franchisor and the franchisee.

The relationship between the franchisor and the franchisee determines the brand's growth. A study by Frazer & Winzar [30] showed that a conflicted relationship between franchisor and franchisee would result in franchisee exit.

11

Inappropriate. Rephrase:

Outperforming your competitors requires more than incremental improvement where it requires a paradigm shift.

In consistence where firms may collaborate to acquire access to crucial and frequently rare resources, overcoming resource-based growth limits over time [82,83]

costings involved as a support to maintain the business. During the pandemic hit worldwide, franchisor given an exemption or a discount in certain fees to franchisee as the businesses couldn't run as usual and both of the party have to sustain and maintain in the industry as one brand.

Outperforming the brand's competitors requires more than incremental improvement; it requires a paradigm shift.

The sentence was removed.

During the pandemic hit worldwide, franchisors gave franchisees an exemption or a discount on specific fees as the businesses couldn't operate as usual, and both parties had to sustain and maintain the industry as one brand

Yes

Can be improved

Must be improved

Not applicable

Does the introduction provide sufficient background and include all relevant references?

( )

( )

(x)

( )

Are all the cited references relevant to the research?

(x)

( )

( )

( )

Is the research design appropriate?

( )

(x)

( )

( )

Are the methods adequately described?

( )

(x)

( )

( )

Are the results clearly presented?

( )

( )

(x)

( )

Are the conclusions supported by the results?

( )

(x)

( )

( )

No.

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Authors Explanation

1

ABSTRACT

well-written and clear; introduces within the field, presents the goal of this paper, some key findings and the methodology used. I would suggest to highlight more clearly the importance and the topicallity of this study.

There is a an emphases and reflection on the situation during COVID19 pandemic throughout the whole text of the manuscript. Perhaps, methodologically, this aspect should be more precisely defined in the title, purpose and research tasks. Although the study has an interesting and sufficiently specific focus, and thre is not a need to put so much emphasis on the COVID19 pandemic.

Authors could improve the soundness of the sentence (Line 8 and 9, starting with "However…").

However, due to existing literature on the franchise growth factors in developing countries such as Malaysia is still limited., this research study to better understand the phenomenon of growth factors from both the franchisor's and franchisee's perspectives.

An additional phrase in the abstract:

Moreover, this study was conducted during the pandemic COVID-19 is still happening. Therefore, the findings would include the pandemic situation that reflects the business environment.

An additional phrase in the introduction:

Thus, there is a question mark on the development of the businesses in the year 2020 onwards as the recession period started worldwide and the pandemic crisis, COVID19.

Line 8 and 9 rephrase:

This research study, however, aims to understand better the phenomena of growth drivers from both the franchisor's and franchisee's viewpoints since there is still little literature on growth drivers in emerging nations like Malaysia.

2

INTRODUCTION

This section is interesting and gives an insight in to the research subject.

I would encourage you to reformulate in a more clear way the essence of the topicality and a research gap.

Authors could improve the soundness of the sentence (Line 41 – 42, starting with "In academic literature…"). It is a bit difficult to understand the author's idea for this statement and its connection with the researched topic.

In academic literature, industry and policy-makers are currently focusing on the sustainable business model to gel with the realities [6]. In addition, business models influence perceptions of resources such as knowledge, skills, and abilities, establishing appropriate resources, interactions among stakeholders, and views of what issues need to be tackled [7].

Yes indeed recently there is an increased schoolars interest on the sustainable business models, but it is not clear why authors interlink it with the researched subject. Somehow this was a bit confusing as further in the literature review, results and discussion does not reflect anything related to the sustainable business models. However, I agree that this could be an interesting issue, to investigate the sustainability perception in the franchising, perhaps not in this study, but for the future research agenda.

 It would be good to expand some description on how authors has sampled particular cases and service industries. Selected interviewees and cases mostly cover laundry services. Perhaps It would be usefull to highlighted more in the introduction part that the research has such a narrower focus – focusing in the franchising within the service or even the laundry service industry. In such, the results obtained could more validated having appropriate representation of cases. Instead if generalising the results on the franchising in all industries, the number of case studies and interviews would seem insuffiecient.

An additional phrase in the introduction:

Thus, there is a question mark on the development of the businesses in the year 2020 onwards as the recession period started worldwide and the pandemic crisis, COVID19. Therefore, the focus of this study is narrowed to the services industry from franchisors' and franchisees' perspectives.

Reason and contributions mentioned in Research Methodology – Study design.

A research problem is an issue that has been identified in the study and followed by research questions and objectives development [63]. We used an exploratory and qualitative research design to solve our research question, which is recommended for understanding the behaviour and motivation of study participants and providing new theoretical ideas [64]. Using qualitative research would describe and explain the social world and create explanatory models and theories. This study uses a case study as the methodology, which involved five participants. A case study or multiple case studies are used to enhance the external validity or generalizability of study findings [65,66]. This study uses purposive sampling to ensure that the chosen sample could reach the criteria and the valuable information needed [65]. The study only focuses on the services industry. The franchisor and franchisee selected are based on two different brands. The researcher selected the samples based on a firm that has been operating for more than five years as firm age is vital to ensure the firm's stability with the changing business environment. Thus, a case study is very much in line with the study to explore the franchise growth factors of franchisor and franchisee.

8. Limitation and Future Research

As this study only focused on two brands from the service industry, generalisations to other franchising businesses, particularly for the Malaysian market, cannot be made. The acquired samples were insufficient to analyse the variations in different industries. Analysing subgroups by several other sectors such as food and beverages, education or manufacturing stated in one study is required to compare the differences between them. Moreover, the number of brands could be more and range from a variety of industries; that may be possible to find other factors that vary by different levels of knowledge. Future studies may consider comparing different brands from different industries to shed more light on the growth of franchise businesses. In addition, future research could examine quantitatively the propositions developed in this study to see the relationships between these three factors and growth factors. Consequently, it is encouraged for both practition-ers and academics to further explore more complex franchising business models and franchising business model development in the context of strategy and critical success factors.

3

LITERATURE REVIEW (2.Section)

The literature analyses provides the general overview of the franchising and some related theoretical concepts. 

I would recomend to detail this part in order to more clearly position the research gaps, and provide a clear link to analyses fruther within the results and discussion parts. 

The paragraph in between lines 111 – 118 provides valuable and interesting information about several Malayssia Plans, it would be good to add some references to this information. Also, maybe the article would benefit of expanding this analyses in more detail in relation to the goivernment support as one of factors explored in further sections.

There are some sources that can give you other view on this research area:

·      Rosado-Serrano, A., Paul, J., & Dikova, D. (2018). International franchising: A literature review and research agenda. Journal of Business Research, 85, 238-257.

·      Lee, Y. K., Kim, S. H., Seo, M. K., & Hight, S. K. (2015). Market orientation and business performance: Evidence from franchising industry. International journal of hospitality management, 44, 28-37.

·      Dada, O. (2018). A model of entrepreneurial autonomy in franchised outlets: a systematic review of the empirical evidence. International Journal of Management Reviews, 20(2), 206-226.

·      López‐Bayón, S., & López‐Fernández, B. (2016). Partner empowerment and relationship failure in franchising. Journal of Small Business Management, 54(4), 1059-1079.

·      Naatu, F., & Alon, I. (2019). Social franchising: A bibliometric and theoretical review. Journal of Promotion Management, 25(5), 738-764.

Information and citation for Malaysian Planning Introduction Part

Based on the data received from the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, 606 local franchisors and 69 master franchisees accumulated to 675 businesses registered under Section 6, Franchise Act 1998 [⁸]. In general, the local franchise market has steadily grown, on average, 7 to 12 per cent yearly. The number of regional franchisors significantly increased during the 9^th and 10^th Malaysia Plan but showed a downward trend during the 11^th Malaysia Plan. According to the 11^th Malaysia Plan, under chapter 8, re-engineering economic growth for greater prosperity, the government will allocate and improve the development program and takes the initiative to harmonies and boost the franchise industry. The franchise industry employs over 80,000 people and contributes more than RM1.4 billion to the annual economic cycle for franchise operations [⁹].

Discussion in 5.3 Government support

Citation and discussion added on government support and Crossing Chasms Stages of Growth Model by Chaston

4

Additionally,  Authors may consider to better organise and explore in depth key literature and concepts related to the growth factors. I would recomend to create a table indicating key growth factors and schoolars from existing studies on franchising. It probabbly may provide you with a better coherance with the key growth factors analysed later. Otherwise it would be recomended to provide a lot more details about the selection of particular growth factors, to be analysed within results and discussion parts.

The section 2.2. provides a review about the crossing chasms stages of growth. Such a life cycle / stages approach is an interesting perspective. Yet this perspective is missing and is not developed further in the results and discussion sections. The article would benefit from better harmonisation of this section with other parts of the Article.

Discussion on 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 has been added and more detail.

Discussion in 5.3 Government support

Citation and discussion added on government support and Crossing Chasms Stages of Growth Model by Chaston

5

Research Methodology

Authors could improve the soundness of the first sentence (Line 215 – 216).

From a methodological point of view, the article is based on qualitative analysis using case studies and interviews. The number of selected cases and interviews is relatively limited, for wider generalisation of the results

I would encourage authors to narrow the focuss of the research on the service and particularly laundry service industry.

In the methodology part, the case studies (companies) chosen could be explained and described more, why the specific cases were chosen.

It is probably worth separating and emphasising whether the analysis focused on international franchising or local franchising cases. From the information provided in the methodolocial part, it cannot be concluded whether these are local or global franchising brands, yet there could be some differences in the nature of growth factors for local and global franchising brands.

Reflecting to the information about the processing and analyses of the results if interviews (line 237), authors could also provide more details about the existing codes used for the analyses of the interview results.  

Regarding the research methodology, data description, authors should clearly explain questions and types of answers.

An additional phrase in Research Methodology:

A research problem is an issue that has been identified in the study and followed by research questions and objectives development [63]. We used an exploratory qualitative research design to answer the research question [64]. Using qualitative research would allow the researcher to explain the social world, create explanatory models, and develop theories. This study adopted a case study as the methodology, which involved in-depth interviews. The participants were chosen from two brands which involve a dyad relationship between franchisor and franchisee. A case study or multiple case studies are used to enhance the external validity or generalizability of study findings [65,66]. This study uses purposive sampling to ensure that the chosen sample could reach the criteria and the valuable information needed [65]. The study only focuses on the services industry. The researcher selected the samples based on a firm that has been operating for more than five years as firm age is vital to ensure the firm's stability with the changing business environment. Thus, a case study is very much in line with the study to explore the growth factors of a franchise business.

6

Findings

This section provides extensive information and quotes from interviews. I am happy with these findings, they were interesting and valuable, an form good base for the discussion and conclusions. Yet, the analytical level for the findings is modest. 

I would suggest adding some more analyses and interpretation to the statements from the interviews interlinking it with the literature review.

The study and particularly findings needs some extension, in particular with respect to the better positioning in the current literature.  The findings are rather descriptive. Curently theese factors stand alone without further clarification and basement within existing research (literature review).

At the begining, Section 4.3. (line 394-396), there are statements about siginificant contribution, but references are missing. There is no prior analysis of this statement that would give a more detailed overview that franchising controbutes significantly to  the country's GDP.

The section 4.3. falls out of the context and requires a more in-depth analysis. I would suggest adding some more analyses on what are the problems related to growth, particularly for franchisors and franchisees, what are the determining growth factors for both and what are the support needs to stimulate this growth. 

Discussion on 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 has been added and more detail.

However, this sub-section is a descriptive for statements of participants. The claritfication and basement linking to literature review are discuss in Section 5 – 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3

7

DISCUSSION

Probably, I would encourage you to highlight better the context of franchising and maybe distinguishing the differences and common issues for both - franchisors and franchisees. 

For instance section 5.1., provides rather general discussion on the innovation without linkages to the literature review and missing focuss on franchising.

Section 5.2. technical improvements and proofreading would be necessary in the sentence within lines 493-494.

Section 5.2. statement regarding the creation of the culture that fosters activities (lines 528-529) is important and reveal interesting discussion that could be expanded.

Propposition P2 seems important and clear, but the analytical level of findings and the discussion leading to this proporsition is modest and could be better positioned.

Section 5.3. needs some revision. This section contains some reference about the support to social enterprises and the interlinkage to franchising is missing. This section contains general facts and information about the government support initiatives, but I would recomend better positione it in the context of this research keeping strict focus on the franchising.

CONCLUSIONS - This part also requires some improvements, but mostly because of the insufficiently written literature review and findings. In the conclusion the authors must emphasise the key contribution of the study as well as to acknowledge the limitations of their study. 

Discussion on 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 has been added and more detail.

Discussion in 5.3 Government support

Citation and discussion added on government support and Crossing Chasms Stages of Growth Model by Chaston.

Figure 2. Government Support Contribution on Crossing Chasms Stages of Growth.

Conclusion part has been added.

8. Limitation and Future Research added