Is Continuous Improvement Taking Place in Franchise Operations? An Exploratory Study.

The UK Franchise Industry annual turnover is said to be £15.1 billion and employs 621,000 (UK Franchise Association 2017) therefore research into how to improve franchise operations has significant social value both in terms of economic impact and job creation and security. There is a dearth of literature surrounding any continuous improvement that takes place within the franchise sector which seems odd given the importance to the UK economy in terms of job creation and successful business start-up. There is also limited research surrounding the franchise sector, continuous improvement and the entrepreneur although there is some exploratory work written about continuous improvement and innovation and the SME (Antony et al 2016).

The purpose of this study is to build upon limited literature in this area. The paper seeks to examine if it is possible to provide a review of what continuous improvement activities are taking place within the UK franchise section which may provide management seeking to implement any continuous improvement with some actions. The paper may also enable them [managers/franchisees and franchisors] with the some tools to analyse failing or poor performing franchisees and will examine if any continuous improvement may stifle the entrepreneurial activities of high end performing franchisees. The paper will also be useful for academia in terms of adding to a limited body of research in the franchise sector.