Knowledge Transfer in Franchising

This chapter reviews and synthesizes the major research findings on knowledge transfer in franchising organizations. It discusses what is transferred and why, addresses the when and how question, and also who transfers and where. The discussion of these broad issues is facilitated by reviewing state-of-the-art research that use knowledge-based view of the firm, information richness theory, the value co-creation concept, organizational life-cycle theory, resource-based theory and organizational capabilities perspective. The study argues that the resource-based theory and organizational capabilities perspective could make an important contribution to franchising research by highlighting how franchise companies create and capture value from knowledge transfer and knowledge management.