The Corporate Paradox: Power and Control in Business Franchise Book

Since the late 1970s the emergence of franchising arrangements has been a major part of the wider process of change taking place in the nature of the modern business organization. The names of franchise companies are familiar to most people: Coca Cola, McDonalds, Pepsi-Cola, Wimpy, Body Shop, ServiceMaster, to name but a few. But how many people realize that each such outlet is a separate legal entity, owned by a local franchisee? Frachising has, at best, remained little understood. This book is an in-depth study of the franchise relationship and how it functions. While past debates have focused on the question: "What do bosses do?", we are now being asked: "Who really is the boss?". Alan Felstead explores who controls what, why and how, setting his discussion within the context of the many current changes affecting the traditional contractual bonds between employers and employees, producers and buyers, owners and managers. "The Corporate Paradox " should appeal to all those who wish to understand more about the organizational structures of well-known companies - companies about which little detail has been known until now.Read More