Event Details

Dr Marin will explore a recent study conducted around Franchising in the context of family firms, the most widespread business form around the world.

Family firms are central actors in marketing systems, and their expansion decisions shape how markets are organized and extended. This study reconceptualizes franchising not simply as a firm-level growth strategy, but as a form of participation in coordinated marketing systems. The research proceeds in two stages. First, a systematic review of 116 scholarly articles is conducted to identify key constructs and develop hypotheses grounded in the Awareness–Motivation–Capability (AMC) framework. Second, these relationships are examined using survey data from 174 family firm decision-makers. The findings suggest that franchising is driven primarily by competitive dynamics rather than internally driven strategic intent. Competitor orientation emerges as the dominant influence, indicating that family firms engage with franchising largely in response to external market pressures. At the same time, the results challenge conventional assumptions about the constraining role of family values. Rather than limiting expansion, family values are positively associated with franchising, suggesting that firms may interpret it as a way to extend identity and continuity across markets. The findings also highlight a conditional role for capabilities. Brand capital does not directly drive franchising decisions but shapes how firms respond to competitive conditions, amplifying some effects while constraining others. Taken together, the study advances a macromarketing perspective in which participation in marketing systems is structurally influenced by competitive pressures and selectively enabled by firm-level capabilities.